"BYO Split Series Vol.IV" links those biting socio-politico punksters Anti-Flag (on top form here) with the highly respected US punk band Bouncing Souls. Four brand new tracks each plus you get Bouncing Souls covering Anti-Flag's "That's Youth" and Cock Sparrer's "We're Coming Back", and Anti-Flag covering the Bouncing Souls "Freaks, Nerds and Romantic's" and the classic Buzzcock song "Ever Fallen In Love With Someone".

Recorded over a two-week period at Daptone’s House of Soul Studios in Brooklyn with Roth at the helm, "Antibalas" is the first Antibalas full-length to be released on Daptone, which - given the band’s deep and long-running ties to the label - brings things kind of full-circle for the band. Antibalas has shared past and present members with several outfits in the Daptone stable (such as Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Menahan Street Band and The Budos Band), while Roth was an original member of the band, and produced the first three Antibalas albums. “Making this record was like going back and playing basketball with all your high school buddies, or something,” says Roth.

The “family reunion” feeling on Antibalas is further bolstered by the return of original guitarist Luke O’Malley, who contributed “Dirty Money,” the album’s effervescent opening track. “Luke O’Malley has an amazing sense of music,” says tenor saxophonist Stuart Bogie, “and ‘Dirty Money’ is a perfect example of that. But he’s also such a hilarious and inspiring person, who leads with just kind of a blind energy into everything he does. He’s very much a reason why everyone in that room is there.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Philippa says: Afro-beat and cinematic funk from Antibalas who join the Daptone label for this LP.

TRACK LISTING

Dirty Money 6:15
The Ratcatcher 8:13
Him Belly No Go Sweet 6:56
Ari Degbe 6:44
Abeji 6:17
Sáré Kon Kon 8:08

With a globetrotting 20-year career as a voice for the people across four decades of political and societal upheaval from the late ‘90s to today, Antibalas celebrates its 20th Anniversary with a stark return to their Williamsburg roots on its latest Daptone Records studio album, "Fu Chronicles". Pre-gentrified Williamsburg serves as the backdrop for "Fu Chronicles" – voyaging back to the early days when the 12-piece Afrobeat ensemble and revered soul label Daptone Records spawned out of lead singer Duke Amayo’s kung fu dojo. A senior master of the Jow Ga Kung Fu School of martial arts, Amayo along with Antibalas founder/baritone saxophonist Martín Perna guide listeners through an epic journey of where kung fu ingeniously intersects with Afrobeat on "Fu Chronicles".

“Lai Lai” (meaning Never, or Forever) is a gate into setting intentions and following through. In tribute to the resistance of the indigenous Africans and their sustainable practices, Amayo is spearheading a green school project in Ikeja (the capitol of Lagos) featuring a rooftop garden with rainwater harvesting and solar panels “M.T.T.T. Pt. 1 & 2” (meaning Mother Talker Tic Toc) dives back in time to when Gabe Roth and members of Antibalas studied with Amayo at his dojo in the late ‘90s. Initially composed in 1999, “M.T.T.T. Pt. 1 & 2” remains a scorching centerpiece of Antibalas’ live repertoire. Fu Chronicles is the first time it appears on tape.

Amayo opens the track referencing the African proverb, “The Truth and the Morning, becomes Daylight with Time.” “M.T.T.T. Pt. 1 & 2” is about cause and effect, and the Karmic nature of time. A soundtrack for dreamers and activists, “Fight Am Finish” invokes the spirits of Seshat (ancient Egyptian goddess of wisdom, knowledge, and writing) and Ogun (Yoruba Pantheon of industry, technology, and war) as a means to rebuild our world with wisdom. “Fight Am Finish” prepares one for daily battles, offering encouragement to be steadfast in the dreams you have. Upon the start of “Fight Am Finish,” it’s on and get ready to rumble. Don’t ever let go! “Koto” focuses on resilience and how one can overcome any predicament. Upon being evicted from his space the Afro-Spot Temple due to acute gentrification in Williamsburg, Amayo brings to life the sense of falling into a hole and emerging even stronger. 

TRACK LISTING

A1. Amenawon
A2. Lai Lai
A3. MTTT Pt . 1
B1. MTTT Pt . 2 
B2. Fight Am Finish
B3. Koto

Antibalas’ new studio album, "Where The Gods Are In Peace", is an epic Afro-Western trilogy searching for solace from American political opportunism, greed and vengeance. Through its battle cry of resistance against exploitation and displacement, Antibalas’ long-form compositions investigate oppression in 1800s America that eerily mirror the current state of the country.

Three explosive original arrangements cultivate an urgent call to heal a broken system. Ultimately, the sonic excursion lands on an island where love is our first instinct. A new ideology is born opening our hearts to the possibilities of living as one unified people, where all gods are equal and together we prevail. True to traditional form, "Where The Gods Are In Peace" pays respect to the forefathers of afrobeat with compositions spanning nine to 15 minutes in length.

With a blessing from the Fela Kuti legacy early in the band’s career, Antibalas has long been revered for re-popularizing the classic afrobeat sound while adding their distinct New York City grit to the mix. Influences of punk rock, free jazz, and hip-hop seep into their expansive works to define a truly 21st century translation of the afrobeat genre and beyond.

TRACK LISTING

1: Gold Rush (10:53)
2: Hook & Crook (8:56)
3: Tombstone Pt. 1 (5:11)
4: Tombstone Pt. 2 (5:52)
5: Tombstone Pt. 3 (4:22)

Angry issue led songs from anarcho-squatpunk noise merchants Antimaniax. Nine tracks of powerful socio-politico punk rock dealing with topics covering animal rights, the fight against the rise of the Right in Europe, G8 Group of Nations and more. Underpinning this is some amazing upbeat ska/hardcore in the style of Sublime and Capdown.

Giving the finger to the concept of melody and subtlety Antiseen's debut recordings are dredged up on one highly inflammable CD. The "Drastic" and "Royalty" EPs are remastered to bring out the fullest potential of these scuzzy old skool destructo masterpieces that'll either have you jumping for joy, or jumping out a window!

"Honour Among Thieves" is Antiseen's highly regarded debut album. Presented for the first time with the 'original' artwork that was never used, TKO Records has also gone through great lengths to remaster this recording for the pleasure of your delicate ears. So thank your stars you can finally get your grubby little hands on a record that was thought to be lost to the ages. But be sure to wear gloves, this one is noxious.

Vintage punk rock from Antiseen, the aptly titled "Southern Hostility". The band, that could barely get along at the time, churned out a distortion frenzy the like the world had never heard! It's all here in its original monster wall-of-noise glory, now remastered to give it that extra kick to the head you'll need to get through to the last track!

The Antlers release ‘Familiars’, their fourth studio album and first since 2011’s ‘Burst Apart’. (In between, they released the ‘[together]’ and ‘Undersea’ EPs.) ·

‘Familiars’ was recorded, produced and engineered by the band at their Brooklyn studio and mixed by Chris Coady (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Future Islands, Beach House) and follows 2011’s critically lauded ‘Burst Apart’, which The Sunday Times described as “some of the most beautiful music in years” and The Independent heralded as “a spine tingling triumph.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: Absolutely gorgeous, mellow record.

TRACK LISTING

1. Palace
2. Doppelgänger
3. Hotel
4. Intruders
5. Director
6. Revisited
7. Parade
8. Surrender
9. Refuge

Highly anticipated record from New York's beloved act The Antlers, their first new music in seven music Perhaps what distinguishes Green to Gold from the rest of The Antlers’ canon is its arrival at a kind of quiet normalcy after a number of rather anxious records. Conceived and written almost entirely in the morning hours, Green to Gold is the easily their most luminous record to date. Following 2014’s Familiars, it looked unsure as to whether there would even be another Antlers album, after the onset of singer and primary songwriter Peter Silberman’s auditory problems.

Affecting his left ear, it was a condition that left him struggling to cope with commonplace noises. He was subsequently diagnosed with lesions on one of his vocal cords, requiring surgery for their removal and vocal therapy to retrain his voice to sing. Following a relocation to upstate New York and the 10th anniversary tour of 2009's 'Hospice', Silberman was rejuvenated and rediscovered the impulse to create new Antlers music. Of Silberman’s unique vocals, The Guardian wrote “His multi-octave voice is as intense as Jeff Buckley’s or Anohni’s, but it’s vulnerable without being precious or cloying” The first LP pressing is on ltd edition gold vinyl (represses will revert to black vinyl) September 2021 tour TBA, including two shows at EartH, London plus shows in Manchester and Edinburgh

TRACK LISTING

1. Strawflower
2. Wheels Roll Home
3. Solstice
4. Stubborn Man
5. Just One Sec
6. It Is What It Is
7. Volunteer
8. Green To Gold
9. Porchlight
10. Equinox

Sometime in 1984, San Diego native Anthony "Antone" Williams found himself sitting alone at Pure Sound Studios, tinkering around with a drum machine. Eventually he landed on a "sinister groove" which would lay the propulsive foundation for his hauntingly melodic tour de force, "Windows of My Mind." Released the following year as a seven-inch single on his own Unity Records label, the song features Antone's otherworldly production. Some have referred to the result as "post punk soul," but we'll let you be the judge.

Coming up in San Diego in the Seventies, part of an extensive musical family, Antone's creative fuse was lit by the sounds of Stevie Wonder, Earth Wind & Fire, and the Jackson 5.. At the age of 13, he was performing in area clubs, making a name for himself. By age 22, he had opened his own recording studio, Pure Sound. The influence of Sly and the Family Stone was decisive for Antone, who took to wearing a star-shaped gold necklace, not unlike the one famously worn by Stone on his epochal 1975 LP High on You.

"Windows of My Mind" was Antone & The Underworld's sole release. Limited to 500 copies and handed out as a promotional tool for a purported album of the same name, the single didn't get much traction. (A story as old as time.) Perhaps the music was ahead of its time and Antone's visionary message will finally sink in 2023. "I didn't want to make a song like Shake Your Booty", he says now. And yet we think that this long-lost record with its "sinister groove" is eminently danceable, almost 40 years later. We challenge you to take a listen to this home-grown 1985 7", remastered directly from the original tape, and make an assessment of your own.

TRACK LISTING

1. Windows Of My Mind
2. Windows Of My Mind (Remix)

Periodica offshoot Futurible continue to treat us more than kindly with a wonderous bit of Balearic boogie / sublime soft synth serenade (delete as appropriate) from Chilean musician Marcelo Antonio Galleguillos Torres. Though he may sound like the kind of South American midfield enforcer you'd expect to cause a career threatening injury after boshing too much pre-match powder, Marcelo's actually a sensative soul with a musical mind. "Suspension" shifts through sunblushed PPU guitar licks and Roland claves, two steps around late 80s George Michael synth riffs and weaves a spell with wonderful Spanish vocals. Light as you like, the track trots the same saccharine streets as the more uptempo moments of the Menage A Trois catalogue, always a good thing in my book. Over on the flip, "Males De Otro Lugar" drops in with dreamy DX7 leads, breathy Berlin pads and divine pop vocals, hurting my heart but making me smile.

STAFF COMMENTS

Patrick says: Futurible's fresh 7" comes all the way from Valparaiso Chile, where Marcelo Antonio wanders the streets, trading in the most sensual synth pop around. Absurdly Balearic and totally limited, this is A-grade buy on sight tackle.

TRACK LISTING

A. Suspension
B. Males De Otro Lugar

"I Am A Bird Now" is the second full-length from this extraordinary New York artist Antony and his cohorts the Johnsons. The album features contributions from both Antony's peers (Rufus Wainwright, Devendra Banhart) and heroes (Lou Reed, Boy George). Their involvement reflects both their admiration for Antony, and his unique place in the contemporary arts community.

While "I Am a Bird Now" is compelling in its vulnerability and "The Crying Light" is a masterpiece of austerity, "Swanlights" may be Antony’s most wide-rangingly emotional work to date. It is a record that is at moments heartbreakingly tender, and at other times has a joyful gleam to its teeth.

Unlike previous work, which was often quite sparsely voiced, on "Swanlights" the vines in the garden are overgrown and the sound palette has become more exotic; strange percussive elements, John Cale-esque string drones, heavily distorted guitars and symphonic winds and strings thread the song cycle together.

The album includes the song "Flétta", a duet with Björk.

TRACK LISTING

1. Everything Is New
2. The Great White Ocean
3. Ghost
4. I’m In Love
5. Violetta
6. Swanlights
7. The Spirit Was Gone
8. Thank You For Your Love
9. Flétta
10. Salt Silver Oxygen
11. Christina’s Farm

"The Crying Light" is the third studio album by New York group Anthony and The Johnsons. Fronted by Anthony Hegarty, this record draws upon the themes of landscape and future. An intimate and moving record, this sees Anthony reach new artistic heights which will please fans and newcomers alike. Includes the tracks "Her Eyes Beneath The Ground" and "Another World". "The Crying Light" looks set for critical acclaim, following the reactions to the heart stoppingly beautiful "Another World EP" and breathtaking sold out Barbican performances with the LSO, that led The Guardian to exclaim that 'his legend is now assured'.Tracklisting1. Her Eyes Are Underneath The Ground2. Epilepsy Is Dancing3. One Dove4. Kiss My Name5. Crying Light6. Another World7. Daylight And The Sun8. Aeon9. Dust And Water10. Everglade

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2014 EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

Brighton-based duo Max Wheeler (producer) and Victoria Port (singer/songwriter) are a classic British concoction of jazz-inflected heady dance floor thrills. While Victoria’s melodies bring the sweetness, the tracks have the low-end weight to please DJ mavens like Karizma and Brackles on Rinse and Moxie and Annie Mac on Radio 1.

The results could be described as a UK Funky Lorde. The ‘Distorted Air’ EP forthcoming on Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood Recordings, is full of Victoria’s songwriting on fractious romance, ever the well-spring of transcendent pop with sweet female attitude. There’s relationship breakdown on ‘Broken Circuit’ or the claustrophobia of ‘World In A Room’. All of which brings to mind 1998 Talkin’ Loud signing MJ Cole and his bedroom produced classic ‘Sincere’ which traded on a similar brew of jazz, musicality, connection with the living dance floor and the pull and push of love.

Ace new project signed to ATP featuring Cedric Bixler Zavala (Mars Volta, At The Drive-in), Mike Watt (The Stooges, Minutemen), Christian Eric Beaulieu (Triclops!) and Rachel Fannan (Sleepy Sun)!!

Anywhere began as a LA/SF collaborative project started by musicians Christian Eric Beaulieu and Cedric Bixler Zavala. Fresh off years of writing and touring as co-founder of Bay Area acid punk extremists Triclops!, Christian decided to immerse himself in the resonant universe of acoustic guitar and began performing solo under the moniker Liquid Indian. In early 2010 while in Los Angeles to perform at an art opening of mutual friend artist Sonny Kay, he befriended Cedric (singer of The Mars Volta) who was a DJ for the event. The two exchanged numbers and planned to record something acoustic rooted in the open tuning, eastern raga style Christian was delving into. Months later the pair met in Los Angeles, enlisted the mobile engineering talent of Toshi Kasai (Big Business) and tracked the new material in 2 days at The Melvins practice space in downtown Los Angeles. During that same visit Christian played live on "The Watt from Pedro Show" as the musical guest of Mike Watt (of The Stooges, fIREHOSE, Minutemen).

After the show before leaving San Pedro, Christian realized they needed bass for the recordings and boldly asked Watt if he'd contribute. Watt agreed immediately and a few months later delivered the entire projects bass tracks. Returning to San Francisco, Christian decided to reach out to vocalist Rachel Fannan, who had recently parted ways with Bay Area psych rockers Sleepy Sun and had relocated to Los Angeles. Having never met Christian before, Rachel generously contributed vocals to two of the songs, while Cedric performed vocals on three tracks leaving the rest to exist as instrumentals.

While searching for a label to release the album, Christian solicited the talent of SF psychedelic poster artist Alan Forbes. During a meeting to discuss art concepts, Alan revealed that he, along with his Secret Serpents business partner Justin Mcneal, had started a label called Valley King Records. They agreed to release a pair of singles as a series of limited edition silk-screened cover 7"s, all signed and hand numbered by Forbes.

The music captured on this material is an ethereal, resonant execution of what could be described as eastern acoustic punk. Likened to the voyeurism of Sandy Bull, Sir Richard Bishop, or Jack Rose style raga's reinterpreted at times with Drive Like Jehu, Minutemen punk velocity, other moments emotionally spiraling toward a haunting, ethereal beauty akin to Vashti Bunyan lost in the desert of a desolate western. Blending acoustic and minimal electric guitars with a multitude of percussion instrumentation, digital tabla machines, sci fi electronics and feedback, this avant garde collective of envelope pushing splatter artists have created a new presence. Modern mantras of electric silence that fuse consciousness into a recording of vibrant, transitional material, blending geographic as well as cultural diversity. The sound of stillness amidst chaos, light below the depths, dancing full circle into the center of what could only be called Anywhere.

Originally released in 1995, "A Life Full of Farewells" is The Apartments' third album. Released only two years after the legendary "drift", this hushed album filled with melancholy ballads once again displays the writing talent of Peter Milton Walsh. Over a quarter of a century later, these majestic compositions, these silky arrangements, this delicate pop engage us with new emotions. Here the nuances are subtle and the musician's demons seem for a time abandoned, leaving room for a new serenity. Reaching full musical maturity, "A Life Full of Farewells" 'is a centerpiece of Australian discography, now unearthed and released for the very first time in vinyl format. Australian vinyl mastering legend, Don Bartley, who also mastered the original 'A Life Full of Farewells' CD, mastered the album for vinyl. Also features a guest appearance by Chris Abrahams from The Necks.

Based in Sydney, Peter Milton Walsh and his band, The Apartments, are acclaimed by critics and fans alike all over the world. Peter Milton Walsh formed The Apartments in Brisbane, 1978, and left Australia for New York a few years later, and relocated to England when The Apartments were signed by Rough Trade. But before leaving Australia, Walsh was sought out by Robert Forster and Grant McLennan, of Brisbane's most critically adored band, The Go-Betweens. Having been offered an 8-album deal by Beserkley Records, Forster and McLennan asked Walsh to join The Go-Betweens as their fourth member in late 1978. The union was, however, short-lived, as the deal with Beserkley fell through. Grant McLennan famously said of their different personalities, "Walsh is night, we are day. We're sun, he's rain." In and Out of the Light is a classic Apartments album, with songs, lines and melodies coming back to you long after the music has stopped playing. The album came together in a new way for The Apartments. Recording began in Sydney, at the end of winter of 2019. Working a few hours a day, one or two days a week, the album was finished in the summer, with the final mix completed the day before coronavirus lockdown hit Australia in 2020.

Peter Milton Walsh and bass player Eliot Fish worked with producer Tim Kevin in his Marrickville studio in Sydney, while French Apartments, Natasha Penot and Antoine Chaperon, recorded their parts in various studios in France. English drummer Nick Allum worked in London. In and Out of the Light (their 7th studio album) again features Chris Abrahams from The Necks on piano. The vocal and piano for We Talked Through Till Dawn were recorded live in one take with Peter singing as Chris played piano. Miro Bukovsky, who played on No Song, No Spell, No Madrigal, again plays flugelhorn and trumpet. In 2015, The Apartments surprised fans by re-emerging -after over a decade of silence-with No Song, No Spell, No Madrigal, an album that saw a new audience drawn to The Apartments music. By year's end, readers and critics of French music magazine Magic named No Song, No Spell, No Madrigal #1 Album of the Year. Five years later, In and Out of the Light is the highly anticipated album that will once more appeal to existing fans and new ones as well. The Apartments exquisite instrumentation and beautiful harmonies and Peter Milton Walsh's impressionistic storytelling work together beautifully on In and Out of the Light. Here are eight songs to get lost in-for a day, for a week, for a lifetime.

TRACK LISTING

1. Pocketful Of Sunshine
2. Write Your Way Out Of Town
3. Where You Used To Be
4. What's Beauty To Do
5. Butterfly Kiss
6. We Talked Through Till Dawn
7. I Don't Give A Fuck About You Anymore
8. The Fading Light

Aggressive in yer face Iggy-style guitar onslaught, impressive and unrelenting.

The first new music from Aphex Twin in five years. A titan of electronica, ambient, acid, and well, leftfield machine music in general; Richard D James has consistently stayed both illusively out of step yet painfully ahead of pack when it comes to trends in electronic music. A producer who's mere name sparks excitement into otherwise reclusive electro-nerds; his across-the-board appeal has united clans in aircraft hangers, muddy fields, pitch back nightclubs and art galleries for nearly three decades and if this new 12" is anything to go by, he's still the vanguard of electronic music and the benchmark against which others are judged. 

"Blackbox Life Recorder 21f" gets us underway with suitably solumn synth parts dancing between rapid fire AFX-patented drums with a dizzying dexterity. Their drizzly mood reflecting the global dismay as we watch the elite plunder the world's resources whilst the rest suffer. As you'd expect James introduces new methods of drum destrucution and programming that sound deliciously fresh and intricate. "Zin2 Test5" sees more dystopian atmospheres propelled by swung, skitty breakbeats and suspended on taut synthlines and static bass plumes. 

"In A Room7 F760" is a masterclass of breakbeat manipulation and contemporary synthesis - perfectly balancing melancholy, tension and drama into an effortless tapestry quite unlike anything else the producer has previously constructed. Finally, "Blackbox Life Recorder 22 [Parallax Mix]" is a moody, almost-club track with possibly the straightest arrangement out of the four. Drifting atmospheres, space-age strings and rounded bass punctuated skillfully by a vintage electro drum palette. Delicate, poised, beautifully composed - like a classic oil painting. He's not lost any of the allure and charm; another beauty from the Cornish acid king! 

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Dressed in a suitably modernist jacket; the new 12" by Aphex Twin doesn't disappoint. Poignantly melancholic and hi-tech; Richard D James uses machines to perfectly convey the emotion of our tense, uncertain, semi-artificial lives better than any organic / human source available.

TRACK LISTING

1. Blackbox Life Recorder 21f
2. Zin2 Test5
3. In A Room7 F760
4. Blackbox Life Recorder 22 [Parallax Mix]

The Aphex Twin 'Cheetah EP' uses digital sound generation techniques combined with wave sequencing technology to bring you sounds with movement and depth rarely found on records today.

To assure you that your 'Cheetah EP' will give you many years of enjoyment, please be sure to read the owners manual carefully before attempting to operate the 'Cheetah EP'.

If you wish to experiment and create some sounds of your own, first try editing some sounds we’ve already made for you, before attempting to create a patch from scratch.

We sincerely hope that having battled through the programming of the 'Cheetah EP', you have not become familiar with the exceptional potential of this record.

Have fun programming, and if you create any superb patches and tones which you feel deserve to be appreciated by other 'Cheetah EP' buyers, send a MIDI System Exclusive Dump of them, on a disc to us at Warp and if we also think they are superb, you could be rewarded for your efforts. Try us!

TRACK LISTING

1. CHEETAHT2 [Ld Spectrum]
2. CHEETAHT7b
3. CHEETA1b Ms800
4. CHEETA2 Ms800
5. CIRKLON3 [ Колхозная Mix ]
6. CIRKLON 1

CD / Cassette Bonus Track:
7. 2X202-ST5

What's left to be said about Richard James? One of the most spectacular and critically lauded producers in the world, a divisive musician and Delphic artist, nearing his thirtieth year in 'the biz' and his sound continues to innovate, experiment and enthrall. The David Bowie of electronic music - for some there is simply no parallel and every last artifact is to be feverishly collected and treasured.

A new EP that somehow extended and builds on his idiosyncratic and highly flamboyant style, the first duo of tracks, "T69 Collapse" and "1st 44" are at once playful and majestic. The first exploring the typically smiley-Cornish-acid-tekno genre with aplomb while the second implores deep subs and his galloping drum sequences to create a wobbly and cerebral track that plunges effortlessly into modern 'half-time' business, merging the best bits of techno, glitch, footwork and IDM in a truly Aphex flavoured broth.

Flip the disc and "MT1 T29r2" explores the darker and deranged sides of his persona - utilizing the Kork's MS-20 filter to maximum devastation while more peppery, skitting drum flurries explode out of the recesses of the mix. Finally, "Abundance10edit[2 R8's, FZ20m & A 909]" (phew!) sees James showing off with his world beating drum programming. Can anyone sequence beats better than AFX? No way hosay - as this final tracks sends us tumbling, flailing and spiraling into the speaker stacks like no-one else can. Still the king of electronic music? Youbetcha! Another essential addition from this acid overlord. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Every time there's a new Aphex release I'm convinced I've grown out of him and won't like it. Time and time again I've proved wrong as this producer par excellence continues to be ten steps ahead of the pack.

TRACK LISTING

Vinyl Tracklist:
A1. T69 Collapse
A2. 1st 44
B1. MT1 T29r2
B2. Abundance10edit[2 R8's, FZ20m & A 909]

CD Tracklist:
01. T69 Collapse
02. 1st 44
03. MT1 T29r2
04. Abundance10edit[2 R8's, FZ20m & A 909]
05. Pthex

Originally out in 1997, these tracks showcase Richard D James at his scariest, most inventive and mellowest, delivering the possessed title track (which came accompanied by one of Chris Cunningham's more nightmarish videos), melodic "Flim", breaktronic "Come To Daddy" remix and jazz-breaks meets nursery rhymes "Bucephalus Bouncing Ball".

TRACK LISTING

12" Tracklisting:
1 Come To Daddy (Pappy Mix) 4:21
2 Flim 2:57
3 Come To Daddy (Little Lord Faulteroy Mix) 3:50
4 Bucephalus Bouncing Ball 5:43

CD Tracklisting:
1 Come To Daddy, Pappy Mix 4:22
2 Flim 2:57
3 Come To Daddy, Little Lord Faulteroy Mix 3:50
4 Bucephalus Bouncing Ball 5:44
5 To Cure A Weakling Child, Contour Regard 5:10
6 Funny Little Man 3:58
7 Come To Daddy, Mummy Mix 4:24
8 IZ-US 2:57

After bursting back onto the scene last year with the suitably brilliant "Syro", Cornwall's favourite son is back with his second release in as many years, upping his release schedule by about 9000%. "Computer Controlled Acoustic Instruments Pt 2 EP" situates RDJ right at the centre of the mad scientist's lab, cooking up a baker's dozen of rhythmic breaks out of tuned percussion, detuned piano and unhinged doors. Situated somewhere between the faux hip hop of "I Care Because You Do", the disorienting moments of "Drukqs" and Pierre Schaeffer's "Musique concrète" this latest Aphex release matches the cryptic and accessible perfectly.

TRACK LISTING

1. Diskhat ALL Prepared1mixed 13
2. Snar2
3. Diskhat1
4. Piano Un1 Arpej
5. DISKPREPT4
6. Hat 2b 2012b
7. Disk Aud1_12
8. 0035 1-Audio
9. Disk Prep Calrec2 Barn Dance [slo]
10. DISKPREPT1
11. Diskhat2
12. Piano Un10 It Happened
13. Hat5c 0001 Rec-4

With recordings made between 1990 and 1995, "I Care Because You Do" brings together another fine collection of Cornish electronic experiments, including the single "Ventolin", and features a scary Richard D James distorted 'devil face' sleeve.

TRACK LISTING

Acrid Avid Jam Shred
The Waxen Pith
Wax The Nip
Icct Hedral (Edit)
Ventolin (Video Version)
Come On You Slags!
Start As You Mean To Go On
Wet Tip Hen Ax
Mookid
Alberto Balsalm
Cow Cud Is A Twin
Next Heap With

As ever Aphex's music is pulling in different directions on this 1996 CD, with tracks underpinned with glitchy chopped up beats and overlaid with lush, emotional synth work. Includes the single "Girl / Boy Song".

Originally released in 1992 on R&S Records offshoot Apollo, 'Selected Ambient Works 85-92' marks the first full length studio album by Richard D. James under his Aphex Twin name. Considered a landmark release in ambient techno, it's easy to see why it has endured. Feathery keys, dreamy production and trickling rhythms are drenched over distant samples from sources as diverse as Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory ('We Are The Music Makers'), Robocop ('Green Calx') and ethereal female vocals on opener 'Xtal'. Arguably some the most beautifully realised and majestic sounds of the revered musician's career.  The album provided the blueprint for every electronica, downbeat and chill-out record for years after. This is just one of those classic electronica releases that every home should have; melodic, semi-ambient and musical, this is AFX at his most accessible. Essential.

STAFF COMMENTS

Martin says: Richard James was a pioneer, making human, wasted and warped electronica at a time it had not even occurred to anybody else. Of course it is very much of it's time, as any technology based entity will be, but it transcends such considerations by being unspeakably brilliant. 'Xtal', with it's rave inspired, dreamy female vocals drifting over it's soft staccato propulsion just might be one of the exquisite pieces of electronic music ever committed to anything. Every home should have one.

TRACK LISTING

1. Xtal
2. Tha
3. Pulsewidth
4. Ageispolis
5. I
6. Green Calx
7. Heliosphan
8. We Are The Music Makers
9. Schottkey 7th Path
10. Ptolemy
11. Hedphelym
12. Delphium
13. Actium

Originally released in 1992 on R&S Records offshoot Apollo, "Selected Ambient Works 85-92" marks the first full length studio album by Richard D. James under his Aphex Twin name. Considered a landmark release in ambient techno, it's easy to see why it has endured. Feathery keys, dreamy production and trickling rhythms are drenched over distant samples from sources as diverse as Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory ("We Are The Music Makers"), Robocop ("Green Calx") and ethereal female vocals on opener "Xtal". Arguably some the most beautifully realised and majestic sounds of the revered musician's career.  The album provided the blueprint for every electronica, downbeat and chill-out record for years after. This is just one of those classic electronica releases that every home should have; melodic, semi-ambient and musical, this is AFX at his most accessible. Essential.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Xtal
A2. Tha
A3. Pulsewidth
B1. Ageispolis
B2. I
B3. Green Calx
B4. Heliosphan
C1. We Are The Music Makers
C2. Schottkey 7th Path
C3. Ptolemy
D1. Hedphelym
D2. Delphium
D3. Actium

Hailing from Toronto, Canada, Aphrose, also known as Joanna Mohammed, unveils her sophomore album, establishing her as one of Toronto's best-kept musical treasures. Known for her commanding vocal prowess within her hometown, this gifted songwriter and vocalist is rapidly garnering global acclaim and accolades from both fans and music critics alike. Signed to independent Soul label LRK Records, 'Roses' remains firmly rooted in Aphrose's signature style characterized by resounding R&B vocals. However, it also embraces a softer, more introspective aura that brilliantly showcases her remarkable versatility in navigating diverse genres, moods, and musical approaches with remarkable finesse.

This album offers a little something for everyone, catering to enthusiasts of Neo-soul, traditional Soul, Hip Hop, and R&B. Produced by her longtime friends/collaborators at SafeSpaceship Music (Scott McCannell, Chino De Villa, Ben Macdonald), the album serves as a compelling testament to the collective creativity of Aphrose and this exceptional production trio, delivering a kaleidoscope of soundscapes, textures, rhythms, and grooves. 'Roses' weaves together both lighthearted and profound elements as Aphrose explores her life journey, delving into her familial past and present, grappling with the challenges of new motherhood, and contemplating her relationships with herself, her partner, and her friends. Across the 35-minute LP, Aphrose draws inspiration from Neo-soul icons like Jill Scott and Erykah Badu, pays homage to Soul legends such as Aretha Franklin and MJ, and infuses contemporary R&B influences from artists like Frank Ocean, SiR, and SZA. The result is a sound that distinctly bears the 'Aphrose sound,' reflecting her deep admiration for her inspirations while imparting a refreshing twist to familiar genres.

The album commences with its title track, 'Roses,' which was released as a single on August 25th. This song sets the stage, invoking the strength of Aphrose's ancestors, particularly her late Grandmother Rose. Following suit is 'YaYa,' also released as a single on July 7th. This buoyant dance track whisks listeners back to the disco era of the late 70s and early 80s. The album's third track, 'Heavenly Father,' offers a brief interlude featuring a recording of Aphrose's Grandmother Rose engaged in prayer, setting the tone for the subsequent track, 'In The Time Of Sorrow.' This contemplative, chill piece captures Aphrose's musings on navigating a world often shrouded in fakery, while craving authenticity. 'Honey (Don't) Come Back' seamlessly transitions between two distinct musical personalities, commencing with a deep, almost Trap-like bass/drum beat before transforming into a spirited Funk/Soul jam—an anthem of empowerment encouraging the listener to leave a situationship that is no longer working. 'What You Don't See' strips the production down to its core, as Aphrose and guitarist/co-writer Heather Crawford craft an intimate ode to a friendship's sad ending.

The B-side opens with the evocative 'Weapons,' featuring a five-person choir including LRK label-mate Claire Davis, Nevon Sinclair (Daniel Caesar and LOONY), Kyla Charter (Aysanabee and Alessia Cara), Lydia Persaud, and Marla Walters. The track is adorned with a stirring string arrangement courtesy of Jessica Deutsch. 'Chop The Cake' acts as a breather, interlude-style, easing the intensity. 'Soft Nuclear' channels the spirit of the early 2000s R&B movement, bearing traces of influence from Lucy Pearl. 'Good Love,' released as the first single off this body of work on May 19th, transports listeners to the 70s with its soulful resonance, drawing inspiration from the likes of Michael Jackson and Teddy Pendergrass. 'Higher' stands as Aphrose's tribute to Prince, capturing the essence of his music within its hook and production. The album's culmination arrives with 'ZAG,' an acronym derived from Aphrose's daughter's name, commencing with the sound of her daughter's heartbeat in-utero from a sonogram taken when Aphrose was pregnant. This heartfelt composition serves as a dedication to her daughter and all parents navigating the rollercoaster of parenthood, emphasizing the imperative of nurturing love to shape the future.

'Roses' stands as Aphrose's homage to her history—her Grandma Rose and the ancestral trailblazers who paved her path to the present life she enjoys; her current experiences—her self-discovery, her relationships with her partner and friends; and her aspirations for the future—her daughter and the generations to come. This album crystallizes these temporal dimensions, prompting introspection, celebration, laughter, and tears. 'Roses' is a musical odyssey that scrutinizes the multifaceted beauty of existence, inviting listeners to partake in this thing called life.

TRACK LISTING

1. Roses
2. YaYa (Album Version)
3. Heavenly Father
4. In The Time Of Sorrow
5. Honey (Don't) Come Back
6. What You Don't See
7. Weapons
8. Chop The Cake
9. Soft Nuclear
10. Good Love
11. Higher
12. ZAG

Brasilian Producer Apoena kicks off 2024 in style for Hudd Traxx following an impressive back catalogue of releases on labels like Jimpster's Freerange and Jus Ed's Underground Quality.

"Pure Feeling" opens up proceedings in a deep and hypnotic style reminiscent of Ron Trent and Chez Damier's early releases on Prescription. "Rico Balanço" follows in a similar vain oozing with raw Berlin vibes, which is where Apoena currently resides.

The B side features "In between The Beat" and the title track "Mystic" which are melodic & trippy groovers for early hour stretches. Top stuff as always from Hudd Trax. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Eddie Leader's long running house label isn't slowing down yet - and Apoena might be one of his hottest signings to date. Tipping its hat to Prescription records, there's a poise, depth and sophistication at play here which sets it aside from this week's other house also-rans. TIP!

TRACK LISTING

A1. Pure Feeling 
A2. Rico Balanço 
B1. In Between The Beat 
B2. Mystic 

The debut album from Winnipeg psychedelic jazz-funk collective Apollo Suns, 'Departures' (Do Right! Music), finds the band evolving across new styles and moods, encompassing the shifting tides of the pandemic years.

Produced by Juno award-winning producer Ben Kaplan (Bootsy Collins, Five Alarm Funk), Departures is a cinematic journey inspired as much by artists like Goblin, Lettuce, and Frank Zappa as film, TV and video game scores and soundtracks. The band combines classic compositional techniques with synths and electronics, showcasing genre-melding finesse. Introducing strings, acoustic guitar, grand piano, and lap steel into the mix, Apollo Suns explore the visceral and heavy, the elegant and ethereal, epic house rock to New Orleans-y brass, proggy pathways, string-backed balladry, greasy funk and beyond.

"It's been a heavy couple of years. We wanted to make an album that summed it all up," says bandleader Ed Durocher. "I always kind of think of music as the different parts of life. Sometimes it's aggressive, sometimes it's fun and loose, and sometimes it's sad and hard. So, since we don't have vocals, a lot of these songs try to convey those experiences through sound."

TRACK LISTING

1. Through The Woods
2. Sisyphus
3. Crybaby
4. Horses
5. Pluto
6. Midnight In Winter
7. Hard Time
8. Fonxy
9. The Aeronaut
10. Serpentine
11. Triptych
12. Beyond The Woods

Apostille is a man who’s torn through enough sound-systems to know the difference between gesture and meaning. Alongside running his own acclaimed DIY record label Night School Records, Glasgow native, Michael Kasparis has spent the last few years making forays into the realm of hardcore punk with his groups Anxiety and The Lowest Form. Throughout all this, his solo electronic venture, Apostille has continued to evolve with each twist and turn of the world. What started off as a quest to whip up a mood and force that into a song has steadily become more of a mission in communication. His audacious 2015 debut album ‘Powerless’ self-released through Night School set the template by hooking up his honest delivery to some manic expositions in electronic pop. At once minimal and courageous with intent to connect, Apostille songs race off with unchecked abandon, skittering drum machines, thick walls of sequenced synth and decidedly elastic basslines. The resultant live shows, noted for their frenzy and ragged vision, soon left Kasparis wanting to reach out in a more imaginative way than through volume and conflict.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Fly With The Dolphin
A2. Feel Bad
A3. In Control
A4. Hanging On
B1. Without Me
B2. The Mordant
B3. Thirteen Minutes
B4. Choose Life

Apostille is the solo musical guise of Glaswegian DIY protagonist Michael Kasparis. Initially a creative harbour from his groups Please and The Lowest Form, Apostille has grown into an explosive synth-punk project unafraid of both physicality and emotional leakage. Powerless is Kasparis’ first album proper, following exploratory works on Goaty Tapes and Clan Destine, and is Apostille’s first release on his own Night School Records. Fiercely independent in practice and execution, Apostille’s stated purpose is to bridge the gap between audience and performer, to connect through the fog of power structures and post-modernism; to ferment a direct pop music unconcerned with control.

Powerless explodes with Life - a rage of brilliance that acts as a communal outlet of shared frustration and confusion at the world. At moments haiku-like mantras lament over a damaged industrial de-composition as in The Collector, at other times there’s a Depeche Modish fragility as in Side 2 opener Deserter. In warped, subterranean ballad Olivia’s Eyes an almost decapitated duet details criminal instincts, while live favourite Slurry demolishes proceedings with a Suicide-like take on Chicago house; a mammoth journey into the psyche of a ‘Falling Down’ prototype, lost in a world of perpetual motion, speeding up and uncaring. Touchstones of early Mute artists like Fad Gadget can be found in Apostille’s overwhelmingly physical live performances but like Tovey’s best work, or perhaps that of Crash Course in Science, there’s a depth on record that paints in more complex colours.

TRACK LISTING

1. Life
2. The Collector
3. Panic Attack At The Station
4. Control
5. Worry
6. Deserter
7. Good Man
8. Olivia's Eyes
9. Slurry

Prisoners Of Love And Hate is an offering to community, to desires that imprison and liberate, to people in all their divinity and ugliness. Apostille - aka Night School Records’ captain Michael Kasparis - presents his third album with a bang, a bursting ball of NRG, empathy and bristling living.

Like its predecessor Choose Life, Prisoners... was recorded in Full Ashram Celestial Garden in Glasgow with Lewis Cook (Free Love) through 2022. A 9 song treatise on Pop music, trauma, ecstasy and the mundanities between the extremes, Kasparis takes on classic 80s Synth Pop, 90s House music, 00’s Trance, wistful balladry, 70’s Power Pop. The thread that runs through the album is a boundless energy, an openness to the moment, to living the pains and joys equally, open armed.

This is a place of no judgement, of possibility, challenge and comfort. The nine songs on Prisoners... can be read as separate ruminations on the feelings and desires that imprison our experience. Through it all the narrator struggles against them, transported and fooled by love and longing, peering through the bars of anguish, flailing in a cell of emotions. Saturday Night, Still Breathing breaks the album open with an invigorating scream and pounds into the night with a nod to Whigfield, Kasparis’ Punk roots and House music. Over a thumping 909 kick and bassline, Kasparis pens a love letter to being with people, the collective energy of hearts in a room, thrumming together, making it through together. Written as private ritual magic, manifesting community during a time of isolation, it’s as if the party is the most important thing in the world. Rely On Me imagines 80s Mute Synth Pop, Erasure fronted by Bruce Springsteen, romance doomed and forever perfect in the mind. Spit Pit completes the opening triptych of fast paced rollercoasters, an ode to childhood forged out of change and discomfort told with a bold, epic production by Lewis Cook, AFX breakbeats, 160BPM kicks and a commanding vocal performance.

On People Make This City, Kasparis eases off the gas, lets the mist blowing in from the Clyde River blow over his version of Glasgow. A wistful ballad about small town gossip and coming through anger to leaving it all behind, it provides some shadow to the bright light of the vibrancy of the album. Natural Angel owes much to 70s and 80s power pop, guitar melodrama, Thin Lizzy and Rick Springfield through the prism of co-dependence in relationships. It’s a theme that’s picked up in slow burner Nothing But Perfect, a hazy synth soul-inflected song about building your own mythology, constructing a dream to hide in, to hold on to. The most surprising track of the album, Summer of ’03 re-imagines the Trance music of early naughties Europe into a lament for an eternal summer or as a fan once put it, “Meat Loaf with a donk on it.” A recognition that all ecstasy has tragedy laced within it, it’s a theme that is sewn through out the LP and continued on the final song Feel Good (You Can Make Me). Referencing Shalamar’s 1982 mega hit by way of N-Trance’s piano riffs, the epic closer is riddled with heartbreak, vulnerability and power. It’s a testament to the new confidence in Kasparis’s songwriting, sure, but also to the enduring power of people to come together in mutual dependence and love. If ecstasy is always laced with tragedy, the Prisoners of Love and Hate can always reach out between the bars to meet in the middle, the eternal now.

TRACK LISTING

1. Saturday Night, Still Breathing
2. Rely On Me
3. Spit Pit
4. People Make This City
5. Natural Angel
6. Disease To Please
7. Nothing But Perfect
8. Summer Of 0’3
9. Feel Good (You Can Make Me)

From the lead guitarist of Broken Social Scene comes an album of minor key moods and swaying songs. The music shifts itself: rolling, dense, sensual, sophisticated and raw. Woozy pop. Audio demerol. For the equationistas - Tindersticks meets Latin Playboys meets Shuggie Otis meets Nick Cave in Vegas. Featuring Feist, members of Broken Social Scene and Stars.

The legendary, highly acclaimed first album from Apparat Organ Quartet will be released on vinyl to mark its 20th anniversary this year. The self-titled Apparat Organ Quartet was originally released on CD, on Icelandic label Thule Musik and got rave reviews from around the world and with their unique blend of electronica, experimental music and stadium rock. Apparat Organ Quartet's line-up included the late composer Jóhann Jóhannsson who also produced the record

"LP5" is Apparat’s first release since 2013’s "Krieg und Frieden" (Music for Theatre), and follows two studio albums, "II" and "III" (Mute / Monkeytown) by Moderat, the trio he founded with Modeselektor’s Gernot Bronsert and Sebastian Szary.

Sublime and delicate, the album finds greatness in small things and in unexpected twists; it joins musical fragments together and glows from the cracks in between. For Ring, it is also a document of artistic insight and autonomy. 'I was only able to make the record this way because Moderat exists,' he says. 'Having a huge stage with Moderat gave me a setting for grand gestures and meant I could unburden Apparat from these aspirations. I don't have to write big pop hymns here; I can just immerse myself in the details and the structures.'

Still hymnic, "LP5" doesn’t rely on dramatic gestures and theatrical amplification, instead it lives off delicately sculpted sounds crackling alongside filigree beeping and twitching.

Like previous Apparat albums, the new release sees Sascha Ring collaborate with cellist Philipp Thimm and on the album you can also hear trombone, trumpet and saxophone, a harp, a double bass and other strings. Tracks were developed over endless group improvisations and lavish orchestral sessions – some of these sessions are only apparent in the final mix as fluttering echoes, just barely noticeable. The album was recorded in Berlin at AP4, JRS, Vox-Ton & Hansa Studios, mixed by Gareth Jones and Sascha Ring.

From elegiac techno to deep orchestral pop ballads, Apparat‘s work has always had a common denominator: an elegance that embraces and gives nuanced layers of detail and a near universal beauty.

TRACK LISTING

Voi_Do
Dawan
Laminar Flow
Heroist
Means Of Entry
Brandenburg
Caronte
Eq_Break
Outlier
In Gravitas

Big room house sounds on small format 7"! Apparel Wax is the alias of an annonymous producer or producers who've been releasing music since around 2017. This is the first record in the Apparel Mini series and features two killer jams which loosely fall into the same territory as labels such as Lumberjacks In Hell, Shir Khan's Black Jukebox & Defected; or producers such as Dam Swindle, Midland, Krystal Klear, Daft Punk etc. High gloss production, white noise sweeps, fat bass and thumpin' kicks. It sounds modern, but is influenced by the vast cannon of filter / funky house that proceeds it. Party starting tackle that few will raise a frown to. Check! 

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Anonymous producer or producers with a clearly defined approach to modern house music perfection. These two joints kick hard!

TRACK LISTING

A. MINI001A
B. MINI001B

Tasty concept 7" series by Apparel Wax with the producer offering up two classy house cuts alongside a brilliant 'nature bomb' - biodegradable, seed containing planting paper which can be used to plant wildflowers and such like around your local area! (The Blindboy podcast has been discussing this concept recently in order to save our dwindling bee population). Much better than the usual throw-away crap certain labels use to pad out their releases!

Musically, "MINI002" utilizes the classic tropes of filter house - jazz licks, low pass filter, warm bass and percussive house beats. Think Shir Khan's Black Jukebox, vintage Glenn Underground and alot of the GAMM / Local Talk output. Feel-good house music drenched in jazzy overtones. Mega!  

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: The second in the Apparel Wax mini series comes with a mixed seed flower bomb so you can plant renegade meadows around your city or urban sprawl. It's all about saving the bees you see! A brilliant idea that's coincidently being championed on the Blindboy podcast. The music ain't half bad either!

TRACK LISTING

1. Apparel Wax - A. MINI002A
2. Apparel Wax - B. MINI002B 

Manchester based Appease have moved on from their days cluttering up our shop and asking to listen to things to actually recording a damn fine new EP on Mighty Atom. This new four track EP is all passion and angular guitar riffs. Graeme Ross gives it that transatlantic twang while Ben Thornley adds a distinctive jangly edginess on guitar. Mitch Westwood and Dave Blaylock provide the thunderous rock solid bass and drums. A real treat from start to finish.

Edward “Apple” Nelson is best known for the small clutch of 45s he released under the Apple And The Three Oranges name on local Los Angeles labels in the 1970s. He first found credit as “Apple” on a Marie Franklin single released the Stage Music imprint which led to the issue ‘Free And Easy’, the first record released as Apple And The Three Oranges. This rapid development from road hog to recording artist inspired him to found Sagittarius Records, named after his zodiac sign. His run with Sagittarius contains six unimpeachable soul and funk numbers released under the Apple And The Three Oranges banner and one issued under his own name, Ed Nelson. This material is ripe for a historical reappraisal. The low fidelity of every Apple And The Three Oranges single was never a problem for the low-riding Eastside Angelenos, who lionized tracks such as ‘True Love Will Never Die’, but their muddy quality cast Nelson outside of the canon in which troubled soul singers like Bobby Womack have held court for decades. Nelson’s master tapes - lost in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina - will never surface to right this wrong. And the records themselves are rare: the ‘Love Brings Out The Best Of You’, ‘Curse Upon The World’ and ‘I’ll Give You A Ring (When I Come, If I Come)’ singles are amongst the most sought after and expensive Los Angeles soul and funk records to ever list at auction. Nearly 40 years after he gave up on his recording career, we’re left with little more than Nelson’s explosive music and his straight-shooting stories of his life’s arc in this anthology of his complete works. Whether it’s his first hand experience with the great New Orleans drummers who laid the foundations of funk, or his relating the oft-told, and always sad, tale of lust supplanting love, Nelson offers confounding words to complement his all too beautiful soul and funk music.

TRACK LISTING

1. What Goes Around Comes Around
2. Free And Easy Pt. 1
3. Free And Easy Pt. 2
4. Down Home Publicity
5. True Love Will Never Die
6. My Baby
7. Curse Upon The World
8. Moon Light
9. Gotta Stand For Something Pt. 1
10. Gotta Stand For Something Pt .2
11. Love Brings Out The Best Of You
12. My Love Needs Your Love (And Everybody Needs Love)
13. I'll Give You A Ring (When I Come, If I Come)

Fetch the Bolt Cutters is a strange and exceptional record, even within the context of an uncommon career. It shakes, rattles and rolls with unorthodox percussion, and on the opening track – I Want You to Love Me – the singer hiccups in ecstasy, facing off against an arpeggiating piano as though competing to climax first.

Although veteran engineer/producer Tchad Blake had some input, and Apple sought the assistance of her drummer’s father, sound engineer John Would, Fetch the Bolt Cutters marks the first time she has entirely overseen production on one of her albums. Knowing her own mind is a major theme. “I would beg to disagree, but begging disagrees with me,” she swaggers on Under the Table, a wickedly funny song about how she is a nightmare date at pompous dinner parties. (“Kick me under the table all you want.”)

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Toeing the line skilfully between mellow jazz, soulful r&b and good old-fashioned indie, Fiona Apple has a sound all of her own. Spoken word sections segue seamlessly into more driven rhythmic material before calming right back down into almost ambient instrumentation. Brilliant, and bonkers.

TRACK LISTING

01. I Want You To Love Me
02. Shameika
03. Fetch The Bolt Cutters
04. Under The Table
05. Relay
06. Rack Of His
07. Newspaper
08. Ladies
09. Heavy Balloon
10. Cosmonauts
11. For Her
12. Drumset
13. On I Go

Studio-obsessed indie rockers The Apples In Stereo seventh album, "Travellers In Space And Time", their most hi-fi and hook-laden production to date. Described by frontman Robert Schneider as 'retro-futuristic super-pop', the album is the official follow-up to 2007's "New Magnetic Wonder", and the band's second release for Elijah Wood's Simian Records. "Travellers" contains sixteen piano-driven tracks, bubbling over with vocoder harmonies and sci-fi sound effects, like 70's AM radio filtered through a UFO; including the robotic first single "Dance Floor", the four-on-the-floor dream-scape "Hey Elevator", the Hall and Oates-tinged "Told You Once", and the futuristic epic "Dream About The Future," among many instant hits. The musical theme heard in these songs is strung throughout "Travellers": intense pop hooks and electronic sounds, mixed with a pumping, get-up-and-moonwalk beat.
Anyone familiar with The Apples In Stereo's career will know Schneider's ever-evolving production process is as intricate as the recordings he generates. The band spent well over a year in the studio recasting their signature pop sounds in chrome-plated futurism, all while adding a dance-driven vibe channeling ELO, Barry Gibb, and Off The Wall-era Michael Jackson.
The Apples' most ambitious studio production yet.

"Peregrine" is: Spacious, thick, brooding, joyful, explosive, and back and forth, yet somehow seamless at the same time. It carries tones and sounds (at times) as stormy and spooky as the album's theme / storyline lends.

Considered to be one of the titans in the original second wave of emo bands, TheAppleseed Cast rose to the spotlight in the late 90's and early to mid 2000's, with a string albums, including Low Level Owl I & II, and non-stop touring, earning them high critical praise and a loyal following. Their influence can be heard in countless contemporary bands such as Chvrches - whose lead singer is a self-proclaimed super fan, Basement, Mewithoutyou and so many more.

While fanship continues to grow with each new incarnation from the band, time between albums has also grown a bit over the last 10 years. Despite lineup changes or time between, Crisci is still focused, as much as ever, on touring and continuing to produce the innovative landscape of music the band is known for.

The discography of trumpeter Don Cherry is one of the most fascinating in music. Although famously associated with the ground-breaking free explorations of Ornette Coleman as his career progressed, Cherry delved into all manner of waters from cosmic mediative wig-outs to mainstream funk. He also pioneered what is now branded as world music, At the other end of the spectrum is this delicious collaboration with Jon Appleton called “Human Music”.

Jon Appleton was an early pioneer of electronic music in America. He established his first primitive studio whilst studying at the University of Oregon in the mid-60s. Assisted by a financial grant this was greatly expanded at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire in the late 60s where Appleton began to record his sonic explorations at his bespoke electronic music studio.

It seemed only natural that Appleton would come to the attention of the questing ears of Flying Dutchman label supremo Bob Thiele. This led to the album “Appleton Syntonic Menagerie” released on Flying Dutchman in 1969. Recorded at the Dartmouth studio it’s a fascinating album rich in ideas, proto synthesiser sounds and sonic exploration. Listening today, it’s as if Steve Stapleton from Nurse With Wound went back in time to record a secret album.

It was probably Bob Thiele’s idea to put Appleton and Cherry together. Thus, Cherry went to Appleton’s electronic music studio at Dartmouth College to record an album of improvisations. Apparently, laid down live the four extended tracks are sparse, spacious and a compelling listen and where jazz meets early electronica. As a jazz musician, Cherry not only played wood, bamboo and metal flutes, kalimbas; earthquake drums, coronet with traditional mouthpiece and bamboo reed but listened to Appleton’s oscillations to ensure that his parts fit into this unlikely musical jigsaw.

This album has been out of print on vinyl for decades and as well as remastering “Human Music” we have made sure to serve it up in its original gatefold sleeve that features striking original artwork by Don Cherry’s Swedish wife Moki ‘Moqui’ Cherry. An exhibition of her work was recently displayed at the ICA between May and September 2023 

TRACK LISTING

Side One
1. Boa
2. Oba
Side Two
1. Abo
2. Bao 

This second album from Appliance, sees them expanding their instrumentation and taking on a more melodic slant. Keyboards, samplers and drum machines rub shoulders with their original set up of vocals, guitar, bass and drums to great effect.

Recorded one track at a time at Guitar Center, completely in secret, Apprentice Destroyer’s debut Glass Ceiling Universe transcends its intriguing concept to highlight a hyperactive and omnivorous talent within. These wide-ranging, kaleidoscopic instrumental compositions veer from the disorientingly complex to the achingly and delicately beautiful, all the while maintaining a metallic, misanthropic edge. It’s almost as if computers were playing to each other across the sales floor, laughing at the puny humans attempting to create harmonics in air when they can do so perfectly in the vacuum of binary. Glass Ceiling Universe is lifestyle music for all the cyborg assassins out there, and it’s out on Castle Face Records.

"The wash of flangers & shimmery reverb have been the foundation in Cali psych ever since the Byrds went electric. And while that sound might've dropped off occasionally, it never dropped out. The Velvets minimalist stylings were infused into the mix by The Dream Syndicate in the early 80's & thus a game changer was born. Clay Allison, Opal, Green On Red all took their charge from that current. Then the Shoegaze scene of the 90's looked at those bands as vectors, things got a little more drenched, so yet more seeds were sown into the fertile terroir. Cut to current climes & the bay area is teeming with the latest iterations: Children Maybe Later, Now, & Cindy easily come to mind. But curiously the band most steeped in the mohair constitution is April Magazine, who (thus far) have been content in the shadows. Up till now they've seemed like characters plucked out of a Kazuo Ishiguo novel-mysterious & ethereal-but perhaps this pressing of last year's cassette only release will flush them out. 'Wesley's Convertible Tape For The South' shows the band defly balancing all those that have come before them while also incorporating flourishes of Les Rallizes DeNudes, Hallelujahs & Nagisa Ni Te into the pageantry . So in a way, April Magazine is transforming the landscape yet again; denser, fuzzier, lush & wistfully challenging. 'Wesley's Convertible Tape For The South' is the band's 1st vinyl release stateside (an LP of older tracks was released last year via a UK only label) so no import tariffs! What were once whispers are now proclamations. Just because you don't know them doesn't mean you can't love them. So grab a copy & hug it out amongst yourselves." - Tom Lax (Siltbreeze Records).

Uncut magazine hit the spot with their 4/5 review for Apse's debut album "Spirit", 'lo-fi, tense and occasionally terrifying... an enviable sense of dramatic narrative... spectacular and frequently unsettling climaxes spiked with Sonic Youth guitars, Robert Toher's ghostly disembodied vocals and a relentless rhythmic drive'. "3.1" is dense, innovative, cinematic and packed with more grooves, a greater use of electronics - a range of instruments both modern and classical and a stronger emphasis on vocals and melodies.

"Climb Up" is a major departure and massive leap forward from Apse's most notable predecessor, "Spirit" - which was completed 4 years prior. They return with a different line-up and their horizons broadened. This is the sound of a 'post post-rock' (the term was often used to label Apse and "Spirit") band reaching out to a new audience, and finding a new identity. Where "Spirit" explored a dark world of reverberant guitars, ambient passages and minimal, haunting vocals, "Climb Up" proves a bold step out of that darkness. "Climb Up" was recorded entirely by the band in their homes. The bulk of the arrangements and mixing were authored by Bobby Jed and Michael. The ever-changing obtuse creative strategies of Bobby and Michael, paired with the adept musical knowledge and performance abilities of Jed and Brandon - and the diverse inspirations of all members combined to create an album that bares a fantastic dialogue between imagination and songcraft. "Climb Up" is wildly unique, versatile, and inarguably the bravest yet most accessible work by the band.

Apse consist of five lads from the East Coast who have been playing together – with slight changes in line-up - during the last 7 years, creating one of the most serious and inspired sounds today: the nerve of slowcore, bits of post-rock dynamics and avant-garde perceptions; beauty, darkness and tension. They showcase a solid, potent and mature musical sense with influences spanning classical compositions, Slint, Joy Division/New Order, and The Cure – to the first Sonic Youth noise adventures, ambient music and a wide range of post-punk. "Spirit" leads the listener through it's multi-percussional swamplands, plodding bass riffs, and alien melodies - both bittersweet and empowering. It is chock full of post-punk's disjointed rhythms, rough guitar passages and tribal stomp. Layers of tone and hand percussion top it all off, creating a beautifully produced record that's a damaged pop odyssey as much as it is a breathtaking wall-of-sound.

A special ‘Submerge” 12” EP featuring a bunch of reworks of this pivotal track from Apta's forthcoming ‘The Pool’ album on Castles in Space.

Kicking things off, Apta's own rework of the original sees the shadowy textures and droning wall-of-sound backdrop turned into a static-strewn dreamland of a piece, underpinned by a flickering guitar riff, cracked snare drums and fuzzed-out Odyssey strokes before launching into the euphoric half-time vocal refrain. 

The follow-up sees Clay Pipe boss, illustrator and musician step into her Hardy Tree guise for a beautifully hypnotic waft of wistful folk-tinged electronics and shimmering ambient textures. It's warmly nostalgic, and packed full of all the feel of a lovely Clay Pipe release. 

Following on from that, modular wizard Polypores takes pieces of the original and stretches them into an organic swell of texture and movement, warping the low basses and flickering modular plinks (and / or plonks) into a beautiful, undulating wall. 

Flip over and It's none other than the brilliant Pye Corner Audio, providing an organically blooming suite of saturated percussion and woozy drifting oscillators, in peak PCA fashion. There are few artists that can do as much as with little as Martin Jenkins can, and hearing his audio sunshine underpinning the vocal line is breathtaking.

It's good to get the ears nice and soothed too before the aural assault and hypnotic spirit-cleansing heft of the legendary Gnod. Dubby throbbing bass and cavernous reverb tear the original into shards and piece it together as a churning, industrial powerhouse before shooting the rest into the endless reaches of space. 

Closing things out on a space theme is the ideal way to do things too, with Field Lines Cartographer's remix taking things waaay into the outer reaches. Grounding bass churns and stellar synth sweeps float below the modulated vocal line, resulting in a perfectly crafted drone, rich in melody but untethered to the earth. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Mine says: The first taste of a new album from our very own Apta (the best egg) sees the lead single twisted and churned into a variety of sounds from Pye Corner Audio, Polypores and Gnod as well as a reworking of the title track from the man himself. Lovely stuff.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Apta - Submerge
A2. Emerge (The Hardy Tree Remix) 
A3. Emerge (Polypores Pink Oceans Remix)

B1. Emerge (Pye Corner Audio Remix)
B2. Emerge (Gnod Remix)
B3. Emerge (Field Lines Cartographer Remix) 

Aqualung is one Matt Hales and you may know him (unfortunately) through the new VW Beetle advert and the aptly-titled "Strange And Beautiful". Doleful, plaintive pianos combine with electronic atmospherics that wouldn't be our of place on 4AD's This Mortal Coil albums. There's echoes of Coldplay (without the bombast) or even Radiohead's nursery rhyme - pretty ballads. It's sad and lovely stuff.

Doleful, plaintive pianos combine with electronic atmospherics that wouldn't be our of place on 4AD's This Mortal Coil albums. There's echoes of Coldplay (without the bombast) or even Radiohead's nursery rhyme - pretty ballads. It's sad and lovely stuff.

Dead Letters is the new album from Aqualung - aka songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist Matt Hales - his first in more than seven years.

Aqualung first came to attention in 2002 when the debut single ‘Strange & Beautiful (I’ll Put A Spell On You)’ became a surprise UK Top 10 after being discovered via a Volkswagen Beetle advert. While that song created a magnetic allure, the strength and versatility of Hales’ songwriting further enamoured audiences. The debut self-titled Aqualung album reached Gold status in recognition of over 100,000 domestic sales, while the brighter symphonic scope of his second album, ‘Still Life’, led to another chart hit with ‘Brighter Than Sunshine’. By the time Aqualung’s third album, ‘Memory Man’ emerged, glowing comparisons had been made with everyone from Bacharach to Radiohead via The Beach Boys, while his music has featured in ‘Twilight’, ‘Gossip Girl’ and ‘Grey’s Anatomy’.

Collaborating with all kinds of artists - including Lianne La Havas, Bat For Lashes, Mika, Tom Chaplin, Jason Mraz, For King & Country and countless others – Hales’ hectic yet immensely rewarding schedule resulted in huge acclaim, including both an Ivor Novello and a Grammy. No wonder, then, that aside from occasionally briefly resurfacing, Aqualung remained in hibernation.

Hales says, “When I need to work something out I write a song. When I'm overwhelmed by a feeling I write a song. When there's something I need to say but can't say it, I write a song. There were things I needed to say and songs I needed to write for myself and once we were home and the piano was there, I started writing them. At some point I realised these songs were all letters, but not necessarily to be sent. Dead letters.”

TRACK LISTING

1. Here And Now
2. Champion Of The World
3. Fool
4. Imperfect Cadence
5. November
6. Possible Impossible
7. Add Me Up
8. Devotion
9. Bad Dreams

With Bending the Golden Hour, the third album from Memphis, Tennessee’s Aquarian Blood, husband and wife team J.B. Horrell (Ex-Cult) and Laurel Horrell (formerly of the Nots) continue the gorgeously stripped-down and atmospheric direction set on their critically acclaimed previous effort A Love That Leads to War.

While Aquarian Blood has roots as a chaotic punk rock six-piece, the band shifted gears after two raucous cassette-only releases on ZAP Cassettes, a pair of seven-inches, and 2017’s Last Nite in Paradise, released on Goner Records. After drummer Bill Curry broke his arm, the Horrells redefined

Aquarian Blood, reemerging in early 2018 as the more intimate, mostly acoustic balladeers behind the staccato, fever dream sound of A Love That Leads to War. Like its immediate predecessor, Bending the Golden Hour was recorded at the Horrell's Midtown Memphis home. The band turned over 43 tracks to Goner co-owner Zac Ives, who handpicked 17 songs for the album.

The final result is shimmering and hopeful; as beautiful and sparse as a Rockwell Kent snowscape. Bending the Golden Hour begins ominously with “Channeling,” which sounds like an outtake from Paul Giovanni’s soundtrack to 1973’s pagan nightmare The Wicker Man. Then the band upshifts for “Time in the Rain,” a sweet duet set to a rigid snare beat. From there, Aquarian Blood zigs to country and zags to psychedelic folk, brooding on one song and soothing listeners with the next. And while the music, feel, and experience is different, Aquarian Blood naturally brings to mind some legendary musical partnerships: Richard and Linda Thompson, Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra, Johnny and June Carter Cash, Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris; not to mention similarly-bent-but-beautiful luminaries like Roy Harper, Pentangle circa 1967 -1973, and Jackson C. Frank.

There’s a big middle ground, like folk-psych, or weirder country music,” he says, reeling off names like Skip Spence and Syd Barrett as stepping stones between the genres of punk and folk.

Inspirations for Bending the Golden Hour come from myriad sources that document the milestones and minutiae in a family’s full life. Some lyrics name a time or a place; others reflect the fleeting moments that elapse unnoticed. “Come Home,” which is sung by J.B. and his daughter Ava, was written the day Ava got her driver’s license. “Ava took the car out by herself afterwards, and I wrote the song immediately—she sang her part when she got home that evening,” J.B. recalls. Whether or not the listener knows the backstory, the song rings sentimental, with subtle, supportive instrumentation that underscores guitar and vocals. The bewitching “Rope and Hair,” on the other hand, is less sketched out, with lyrics that are simply a recitation of the talismen found on a silver sabertooth charm that J.B. purchased for Laurel at a Latin strip mall in southeast Memphis. That’s all to be said. “Sometimes when you know too much about what the song is about, it takes away the magic,” says J.B. “Alabama Daughter,” says Laurel, is about a place where a childhood friend lived called Castleberry Holler. “It was really rural, just a lot of shacks without electricity—the kind of place you didn’t go to unless you were invited,” she says. “Probable Gods” is a hazy reflection on the struggle of such a strange year. “It’s been very cathartic to put all of this into words and not have it live in my head,” J.B. says.

TRACK LISTING

1. Channeling
2. Time In The Rain
3. Bolted And Embossed
4. Waited
5. Til It Wasn’t Anymore
6. Spray Them All
7. Rope And Hair
8. Bending Time
9. Come Home
10. Covering The Past
11. Hate To Wake You
12. Alabama Daughter
13. Night Train
14. Count My Love
15. On The Divide
16. Probable Gods
17. Boredom Hours

Enter, Aquilo.

The duo Tom Higham and Ben Fletcher share their debut album 'Silhouettes'. From the outset, the title track is a resplendent and delicate balance of bass, strings and angelic sweeps, constructing harmonic monoliths before breaking them down into their constituent parts. It is this sort of constructive insight that changes the tracks from their individually stunning building blocks into a breathing lenticular construction, layered, deep and multi-dimensional. 

'Almost Over' begins with a stunning organic synth swell, before being joined by pitch perfect vocals and a softly tickled piano riff, adding weight to the airy and inauspicious beginnings before blooming into a full-force orchestral odyssey. 

'Never Seen You Get So Low' beginning with the words 'Slow Down' is perhaps the most apropriate beginning for a piece wholly constructed from 80bpm beats, gloriously emotive Rhodes and two-part harmonies. A graceful and triumphantly constructed slice of hopeful melancholic writing, and following this with the stunning  'Low Light' ; Shining delayed guitars and throbbing bass, topped with heavenly vocal refrains and soaring arepggios. 

As the album moves on, it becomes clear that Higham and Fletcher have a delicate and unique sound, mournfully visceral, triumphantly hopeful and resolutely beautiful. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A beautiful collection of delicately balanced instrumentation, mournful but hopeful vocals and heart-wrenching orchestral interludes. A brilliant introduction, and a band to watch out for.

The final part of this ‘A.R. Kane reissue collection is 1989’s astonishing double-LP ‘i’ which followed up on ‘sixty nine’s promise and saw the duo fully unleash their experimental pop sensibilities over 26 tracks, plunging the A.R. Kane sound into a dazzlingly kaleidoscopic vision of pop experiment and play. Suffused with new digital technologies and combining searingly sweet and danceable pop with perhaps the duo’s strangest and boundary-pushing compositions, the album did exactly what a great double-set should do - indulge the artists sprawling pursuit of their own imaginations but always with a concision and an ear for those moments where pop both transcends and toys with the listeners expectations. Jason Ankeny has noted that “In retrospect, ‘i’ now seems like a crystal ball prophesying virtually every major musical development of the 1990s; from the shimmering techno of ‘A Love from Outer Space’ to the liquid dub of ‘What’s All This Then?’, from the alien drone-pop of ‘Conundrum’ to the sinister shoegazer miasma of ‘Supervixens’ — it’s all here, an underground road map for countless bands to follow.” Perhaps the most overwhelmingly all-encompassing transmission from A.R. Kane, ‘i’ bookended a three year period in which the duo had made some of the most prophetic and revelatory music of the entire decade.

After ‘i’ the duo’s output became more sporadic with Tambala and Ayuli moving in different directions both geographically and musically, with only 1994’s ‘New Clear Child’ a crystalline re-fraction of future and past echoes of jazz, folk and soul, before the duo went their separate ways. Since then, A.R. Kane’s music has endured, not thanks to the usual sepia’d false memories that seem to maintain interest in so much of the musical past, but because those who hear A.R. Kane music and are changed irrevocably, have to share that universe which A.R. Kane opened up, with anyone else who will listen. Far more than other lauded documents of the late 80s it still sounds astonishingly fresh, astonishingly livid and vivid and necessary and NOW.

TRACK LISTING

1) Hello
2) A Love From Outer Space
3) Crack Up
4) Timewind
5) What’s All This Then?
6) Snow Joke
7) Off Into Space
8) And I Say
9) Yeti
10) Conundrum
11) Honeysuckleswallow
12) Long Body
13) In A Circle
14) Fast Ka
15) Miles Apart
16) Pop
17) Mars
18) Spook
19) Sugarwings
20) Back Home
21) Down
22) Supervixens
23) Insect Love
24) Sorry
25) Catch My Drift
26) Challenge

‘Sixty Nine’ the group’s debut LP that emerged in 1988 had critics and listeners struggling to fit language around A.R. Kane’s sound. As a title it was telling - the year of ‘Bitches Brew’, the year of ‘In A Silent Way’, the erotic möbius between two lovers - and as originally coined by the band themselves, ‘dream pop’ (before it became a free-floating signifier of vague import) was entirely apposite for the music A.R. Kane were making. Crafted in a dark small basement studio in which Tambala recalls the duo had “complete freedom - We wanted to go as far out as we could, and in doing so we discovered the point where it stops being music”. There was an irresistibly dreamy, somnambulant, sensual and almost surreal flow to ‘sixty nine’s sound, but also real darkness/dankness, the ruptures of the primordial and the reverberations of the subconscious, within the grooves of remarkable songs like ‘Dizzy’ and ‘Crazy Blue’. Alex’s plangent vocals floated and surged amidst exquisite peals of refracted feedback but crucially there was BASS here, lugubrious and funky and full of dread, sonic pleasure and sonic disturbance crushed together to make music with a center so deep it felt subcutaneous, music constructed from both the accidental and the deliberate, generous enough to dance with both serendipity and chaos. ‘sixty nine’ remains - especially in this remastered iteration - ravishing, revolutionary – Neil Kulkarni.

Dream POP, they called it. Given AR Kane’s Alex Ayuli once worked for advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi, it’s no surprise that he and collaborator Rudy Tambala invented their own genre before critics could stick their oar in. It was a canny move, but more importantly, it was accurate: the music of AR Kane was made for dreamers, by dreamers, and its languor and longing made it particularly bewitching listening; their music is often smeared and blurry, happily lost in its own indefinable pleasures. “We wanted dream pop,” Tambala says, “that feeling of a dream where the rules are different. Dream logic.” -UNCUT REISSUE OF THE MONTH

"A.R. Kane carved out a unique musical path, welding elements of pop, psych, dub, electronica, funk, noise, jazz, ambient and more in a way that had never been done before. Or since. Their debut in particular is a work of unbridled brilliance." *Electronic Sound*

TRACK LISTING

A1. Crazy Blue
2. Suicide Kiss
3. Baby Milk Snatcher
4. Scab
5. Sulliday
B1. Dizzy
2. Spermwhale Trip Over
3. The Sun Falls Into The Sun
4. The Madonna Is With Child
5. Spanish Quay

A.R. Kane were formed in 1986 by Rudy Tambala and Alex Ayuli, two second-generation immigrants who grew up together in Stratford, East London. From the off the pair were outsiders in the culturally mixed (cockney/Irish/West Indian/Asian) milieu of the East End, with Alex and Rudy’s folks first generation immigrants from Nigeria and Malawi, respectively. The two of them quickly developed and fostered an innate and near-telepathic mutual understanding forged in musical, literary and
artistic exploration. Like a lot of second-generation immigrants, they were ferocious autodidacts in all kinds of areas, especially around music and literature. Diving deep into the music of afro-futurist luminaries such as Sun Ra, Miles Davis, Lee Perry and Hendrix, as well as devouring the explorations of lysergic noise and feedback from contemporaries like Sonic Youth and Butthole Surfers, they also thoroughly immersed themselves in the alternate literary realities of sci-fi and ancient history (the fascination with the arcane that gave the band their name), all to feed their voracious cultural thirsts and intellectual curiosity.

It was seeing the Cocteau Twins performing on Channel 4 show the Tube that spurred A.R. Kane into being - “They had no drummer. They used tapes and technology and Liz Fraser looked completely otherworldly with those big eyes. And the noise coming out of Robin’s guitar! That was the ‘Fuck! We could do that!

The duo debuted with the astonishing ‘When You’re Sad’ single for One Little Indian in 1986. Immediately dubbed a ‘black Jesus & Mary Chain’ by a press unsure of WHERE to put a black band clearly immersed in feedback and noise, what was immediately apparent for listeners was just how much more was going on here – a tapping of dub’s stealth and guile, a resonant umbilicus back to fusion and jazz, the music less a conjuration of past highs than a re-summoning of lost spirits.

The run of singles and EPs that followed picked up increasingly rapt reviews in the press, but it was the ‘Up Home EP’ released in 1988 on their new home, Rough Trade that really suggested something immense was about to break. SimonReynolds noted the EP was: Their most concentrated slab of iridescent awesomeness and a true pinnacle of an era that abounded with astounding landmarks of guitar-reinvention, A.R. Kane at their most elixir-like.

If anything, the remastered ‘Up Home’ is even more dazzling, even more startling than it was when it first emerged, and listening now you again wonder not just about how many bands christened ‘shoegaze’ tried to emulate it, but how all of them fell so far short of its lambent, pellucid wonder. This remains intrinsically experimental music but with none of the frowning orthodoxy those words imply. A.R. Kane, thanks to that second generation auto-didacticism were always supremely aware about the interstices of music and magic, but at the same time gloriously free in the way they explored that connection within their own sound, fascinated always with the creation of ‘perfect mistakes’ and the possibilities inherent in informed play. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Baby Milk Snatcher
2. W.O.G.S
3. One Way Mirror
4. Up

Features current and ex-members of Chain & The Gang, Pygmy Lush, and The Shirks. Moody lo-fi garage rock.

Coasting into town on fumes, late and not speaking to each other because nobody would stop to ask for directions,The Ar-Kaics take their cues from the first wave of ‘60s punk — American teenagers taking cues from the British Invasion, in turn taking cues from pilfers of the hinterland originators — with the added vantage of several subsequent decades worth of wayward balladeers, no names and psychedelic rock hangovers.

The Ar-Kaics have been delivering their off-brand, spot-on garage rock originals out of Richmond, VA, via a flood of small press singles and a s/t debut album - all of which have since become highly desirable in the collectors market - and several successful DIY tours across the lower 48, with shows in Canada and Europe to boot. Since, they've drifted around some, gotten and lost jobs, opened a record store and label, and started families.

In the summer of 2015 the group hooked up with Wayne Gordon and Mikey Post, of Wick Records to record a couple tracks at the Daptone Records' House of Soul - resulting in 2016's critically acclaimed - Just My Life b/w It's Her Eyes 45.

After the success of their debut single on Wick, plans were hashed to record their sophomore full-length, which took place over three days in the Spring of 2017, at Adrian Olsen's Montrose Studio in Richmond, VA.

Produced by Wayne Gordon (Black Lips, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion), and Mikey Post (Reigning Sound, The Jay Vons) the fruits of the heady three day retreat produced the forthcoming Long Player, "In This Time"...a low-brow journey through the Teen-Beat sounds of the 1960's...and beyond! From the opening, crude thud of "Don't Go With Him", the Velvet Underground tinged swagger of "She's Obsessed with Herself", the breezy, late-period psych of "Long Way Down", to the unpretentious, sap-free balladry of "It's Her Eyes" - The Ar-Kaics flex their deft understanding of the subtle intricacies that defines bonafide Garage Rock.

In spite, the band remains, taking its time with In This Time, void of professionalism or self-preservation, just an unquenchable thirst to lap it up and pass it around — the good stuff that is — before it’s all gone.

TRACK LISTING

1. Don't Go With Him
2. Some People
3. No Vacancy
4. She's Obsessed
5. Sick 'n' Tired
6. Cut Me Down
7. Distemper
8. It's Her Eyes
9. What You Do
10. You Turn Me Bad
11. In This Time
12. Long Way Down

Loud pressed vinyl single featuring the best track from the group's 1979 album plus an unreleased take of the track ''My Fate'' on the flip.. Very smooth German AOR with definite appeal for the Balearic fraternity. 

Ara Pacis, a group from the island Föhr in the North Sea, was originally founded in 1971. Initially influenced by blues and classic rock by The Rolling Stones, The Who, and the like, they were also inspired by bands such as Steely Dan as well as the German/British group Lake. However, Ara Pacis created a style of their own when their privately pressed an self-distributed “To the Westcoast” LP was released in 1979. The songs were mainly characterized by two-part guitar riffs by Töns Brautlecht-Deppe and Wolfgang Schiffner, who also were the core songwriters of the band.

The freshly remastered single starts with the title track “To the Westcoast”. Due to its sunny, yacht-friendly vibe it is easily amongst the best and most authentic tunes out of the “Westcoast rock” genre recorded in Germany. With family connections in California, lead singer Töns Brautlecht-Deppe was able to create and capture the feeling of the Pacific sea shore just perfectly.

The single is backed with a revised studio version of “My Fate”. The track is also featured on the album but the version presented here on the 7" vinyl is an unreleased, even quite funky and more powerful take. It was recorded in 1981 at the Rüssl studio in Hamburg where Brautlecht had just started to work as an engineer.

As the "To the Westcoast" LP was released during a time when styles like New Wave, Synth Pop and Punk became popular in Germany and the interest in organic and soulful rock declined, Ara Pacis’ debut remained relatively unnoticed until today and even the Krautrock collector’s scene does not seem to be fully aware of this hard to find gem yet of which only 1000 copies were originally pressed. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Patrick says: Perfectly categorised as "Kraut-yacht" by shop favourite and MCR DJ Forbes, this blue-eyed, open hearted AOR groover skips across the waves on a Steely Dan rhythm, enjoys some Doobie Brothers guitar chords and lifts off with CSN harmonies. Bliss!

TRACK LISTING

To The Westcoast
My Fate (Revisited)

Next up on Co-Accused Records - No Static / Automatic label boss Ara-U is piloting the craft with his "No Future EP". The Venezuelan electro producer provides four analogue cuts accompanied by a Radioactive Man remix.

It's a cosmic liftoff with the mind warping sonic sounds of "Planet Destroy". Radioactive Man's funk-fueled remix has an infectious 303 bassline that takes the listener on a jackin' journey. On the flip side "Exit Now" moves into driving hypnotic synths with sizzling percussion throughout. "No Future" dips the dancefloor into a twisting wormhole of intergalactic grooves. The EP closes with the dark dystopian synths and extraterrestrial layers of "It’s Only Lies Around Me".

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: As usual, mainframe destruction from Ara-U and Radioactive Man who deploy their own brand of funk-laced electro and growling analogue synthesis.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Planent Destroy
A2. Planent Destroy (Radioactive Man Remix)
B1. Exit Now
B2. No Future
B3. It’s Only Lies Around Me

These two songs were written, recorded and mixed during the sessions for Arab Straps' first album in forever "As Days Get Dark". As much as they loved them, they couldn't find a place for them on the final album. Maybe it's because they seem to have their own distinct identities, but sometimes a song just sounds better on its own, when it's not part of a crowd and vying for attention. So, to celebrate the anniversary of the album's release, we present As Days Get Dark's two runaway loners; a couple of black sheep who might not click with the rest of the family but, even though they aren't very happy, are still worth a cuddle.

TRACK LISTING

Side A - Aphelion
Side B - Flutter

Legendary Falkirk duo Arab Strap present a double album compilation celebrating with ‘20 songs for 20 years’, complementing a clutch of feverishly anticipated anniversary shows.

Reflecting on a 20 year career that was as influential as it was controversial, the compilation highlights an extraordinary output that staunchly refused to conform to expectation. From the string-led sashay of ‘Shy Retirer’ to the piano-driven noir of ‘Love Detective’; the lo-fi crunch of ‘The Clearing’ to the spartan electronica of ‘Rocket, Take Your Turn’, Arab Strap were a fearless and resolutely original proposition from the minute the band regaled us all with tales of their ‘First Big Weekend’ back in 1996.

Here’s Aidan on the tracklisting for ‘Arab Strap’: “We chose 20 songs - one for each year since we started - and decided to split them into two lots of 10. The first disc’s a kind of best-of, but we just stuck to the more electronic stuff for this - there’s so many different sounds going on in Arab Strap albums, so we wanted to make it a more coherent whole.

“The second disc’s filled with rarities from EPs and b-sides and out-takes and stuff, so there’s some louder rock stuff on there. I think all of these songs could’ve been on the albums they were recorded for, but sometimes you’re trying to tell a story and they just don’t fit. This disc is more live drums and rock-y too, so anyone looking for the noise should hopefully be satisfied.”

TRACK LISTING

The First Big Weekend
Love Detective
Cherubs
(Afternoon) Soaps
Here We Go
Rocket, Take Your Turn
The Clearing
Don’t Ask Me To Dance
The Shy Retirer
Turbulence
The New Saturday
We Know Where You Live
Where We’ve Left Our Love
To All A Goodnight
Dead Air
Daughters Of Darkness
I Still Miss You
Toy Fights
Blackness
Mustard

“It's about hopelessness and darkness,” says Aidan Moffat. “But in a fun way.” The Arab Strap frontman is speaking about the band’s 7th studio album and their first since 2005’s The Last Romance. The band's exciting return saw the much lauded "The Turning of Our Bones" single achieve Record of the Week on Jo Whiley's BBC Radio 2 show and hit the B-list at BB6Music. The new album will appeal to longtime fans and pick up new ones who weren't ready for Arab Strap first time round!

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: It's hard to believe it's been 16 years since the great Arab Strap hit us with a full LP. Sure we've had Moffat's decidedly excellent solo work but there's something to be said for the superb, ironic and cleverly written melodies and singeable hooks that only Arab Strap can bring. Brilliantly listenable and perfectly timed.

TRACK LISTING

1 The Turning Of Our Bones
2 Another Clockwork Day
3 Compersion Pt. 1
4 Bluebird
5 Kebabylon
6 Tears On Tour
7 Here Comes Comus!
8 Fable Of The Urban Fox
9 I Was Once A Weak Man
10 Sleeper
11 Just Enough 

Following their critically-acclaimed UK Top 20 album “As Days Get Dark”, Arab Strap return with their 2nd long player for Mogwai’s Rock Action Records with the excellent titled “I’m totally fine with it - don’t give a fuck anymore”. Almost 28 years after their debut, Arab Strap have never sounded more essential, and this new record is a fierce testament to their laser focus on wider horizons. Written and performed exclusively by Malcolm Middleton & Aidan Moffat, and finessed with longtime collaborator Paul Savage, the album furthers the band’s transformation from swooning, slow-core romantics to raging, alt-pop chroniclers.

TRACK LISTING

1. Allatonceness
2. Bliss
3. Sociometer Blues
4. Hide YOur Fires
5. Summer Season
6. Molehills
7. Strawberry Moon
8. You’re Not There
9. Haven’t You Heard
10. Safe & Well
11. Dreg Queen
12. Turn Off The Light

After a short break to work on solo projects (Lucky Pierre and Malcolm's solo album), Arab Strap return with a brand new album. Bolstered by the full-time involvement of Stacey Sievwright and Jenny Reeve on violin and cello, the album tells tales on familiar Arab Strap themes of love, loss, depression and hope. The intervention of various friends: Conor and Mike from Bright Eyes, Bill Wells and Barry Burns from Mogwai, makes the album their most diverse to date, switching from piano ballads to spiteful guitars to wistfull Scottish folk and glassy eyed bar-room sing-a-longs.

The debut album from Glasgow's finest, "The Week Never Starts Round Here" is collection of tales about love, life and alcohol. A bleak and dark affair focussing on the pain and turmoil of a failed relationship, rubbish jobs with worse wages and a love for Kate Moss - all set to the most brooding music. It includes surely one of the best debut singles ever, the fantastic "The First Big Weekend".

Seventh album from these ever-changing and undefinable pioneers. The new album marks a new direction in the band's evolution, now more towards post-punk and industrial. Think Killing Joke, Swans, The Fall, PiL, Stranglers. Feat. appearances from Stephen O'Malley (SunnO)))), Ted Parsons (Killing Joke, Prong), Andrew Liles (Current93/Nurse With Wound) and Erlend Hjelvik (Kvelertak). Recorded at Electrical Audio by Steve Albini in Chicago Summer 2015.

Sired in the post-punk, body-horror screeds of bands such as The Birthday Party and Jesus Lizard, and taking Melvins’ stewed-to-a-pulp stomp as smelling salts, Årabrot have developed their own perverse strain of skin-crawling art-rock over six albums and numerous EPs, releases such as 2011’s Solar Anus and 2015's You Bunch Of Idiots. Mixing in elements of black metal, and a love of really really dirty, if philosophical French writers such as George Bataille and the Marquis de Sade - all have had the effect opening up a stye-ridden third eye. Having already once suffered a collapsed lung during a show in London, frontman Kjetil Nernes discovered a malignant cancer growth in his throat, and now given the all-clear, The Gospel is a tale of near-death and rebirth. As Kjetil himself says: "The theme of The Gospel is a vision of the lonely warrior on a summit looking out over a battle field, the smoke from the bomb craters, an all-encompassing silence. The war was against one self; against the ugliness, against the sickness. You sink to the bottom of the sea. All of a sudden you are back on the surface again, stupefied. And hungry! A wicked hunger for everything human life has to offer: Sex! War! Drugs! You breathe, but not like before. ‘The man who has been in hell, never forget’.” 

TRACK LISTING

1. The Gospel
2. I Run
3. Tall Man
4. Faustus
5. Ah Feel
6. And The Whore Is This City
7. I Am The Sun
8. Darkest Day
9. Rebekka (Tragoedie)

Singer-songwriter Lail Arad releases her second album, ‘The Onion’, through The Vinyl Factory.

‘The Onion’ is the follow-up to London-born Lail’s 2011 debut ‘Someone New’ and was co-produced between a snowy winter in Geneva and a summer heat wave in NYC. The album came together patiently, with Lail writing, erasing, demoing and dallying; the result is a striking marriage of assured maturity and childlike spirit.

An acute sense of perspective permeates the album, from its subtle themes to its classic production and from each lyrical twist to its unassuming delivery.

Lead track ‘Lay Down’ quickly escalates through a resolute guitar hook and captivating signature vocal into a vast upbeat chorus that is incongruous with its troubled lyrical meaning. Lail says: “This track is as about as angsty as I get. Oh heartache! Oh vulnerability! Turn it up loud and drown out the warning bells!”

“A cool-as-hell depiction of youthful insecurity matched to infinite possibility” - Clash

Tokyo beat producer's first album release outside his own country. Influenced as much by Chicago post-rock and German electronica as it is by the cut up styles of Matthew Herbert or Rob Swift, or the straight up hip hop of RZA or Busta Rhymes. This is hip hop like you've never heard before, masterfully crafted, incredibly fresh and quite unique.

The Kyoto-based musician Yusaku Arai is known for his production work in the avant-garde scenes of Japanese hip-hop and R&B. On this solo album, though, he offers more lengthy, piano-centric meditations that use the techniques of musique concrète, and the ambient swirls you'll hear from Huerco S and the West Mineral / Motion Ward axis.

Arai’s compositions on the A-side emerged out of a reflection on the corporeal and interwoven relationship between his own body and things he encountered in the world - the ocean, a flower petal, a plastic sheet, a hand. His intent is to represent a process in which colors gently well up in inside of an object, pass through its entirety - and eventually permeate into the body itself. The B-side consists mostly of a long composition, which is about an unavoidable surplus that crops up in communication, whether of gestures or of language. This narrative work describes humans as beings torn between enthusiasm and emptiness.

The album’s artwork is by photographer Azusa Yamaguchi and designer Hejiro Yagi. Mastering by Sean McCann of Recital. An 18x24 inch poster is included.

From the 1979 LP Accadde A by Arawak, this superb 7" showcases standout Italian Library recordings that you need in your life. Arawak, one of Luciano Simoncini's many pseudonyms, crafted compositions for film scores, radio, and television in Italy and the album remained obscure until the legendary Madlib heavily sampled it in 2000 and drove up the price of originals. The LP received its first reissue by Golden Pavilion in 2017 so fans could cop it once more and now two of the best bits from it are on their own record. Both tracks oscillate between mellow dreamy atmospheres and irresistible drum breaks with 'Bali' being sampled in 'Real Eyes' by Quasimoto in 2000, and the b-side jam coming on strong with bagpipes intertwined with punchy bass and steady drums.

TRACK LISTING

Bali (Edit)
Belfast (Edit)

A Northern View is their 2nd album and is set to be released in February 2020. It was recorded in the idyllic surroundings of Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios in Wiltshire (Laura Marling, The Gloaming, Cats Eyes) and is a reflection on what it is to reside at around 55 degrees north on planet Earth. An album of pastoral themes and curious love songs, underpinned by the unique violin playing of Emma Smith (Seamus Fogarty, James Yorkston, Noel Gallagher, Jarvis Cocker). Mark McCambridge played his first show as ARBORIST in 2014 supporting James Yorkston. A solo tour of Ireland followed before impressive performances led to notable support slots alongside Low, Cat Power, Echo and The Bunnymen and Guy Garvey. Since the release of their debut single "Twisted Arrow" in 2015, Arborist have become somewhat cult properties, thanks in no small part to KIM DEAL (The Breeders, Pixies) contributing delicate harmonies to the song. 

TRACK LISTING

01 A Stranger Heart
02 Here Comes The Devil
03 The Guttural Blues
04 Taxi
05 From The Sagging Bough Of A Maple
06 By Rote
07 The Dark And The Moon
08 Don't Let The Sky Take Me
09 Can I Add You To My Will?
10 Too Much On My Mind
11 A Northern View 

In March 2022, Mark McCambridge embarked on a trip to Spacebomb Studios in Richmond, Virginia to record the third ARBORIST album. Working alongside Matthew E White (Producer) and recording with the legendary Spacebomb House Band they completed what has become 'An Endless Sequence of Dead Zeros', set to be released on Kirkinriola Records in April 2023. Belfast native Mark McCambridge played his first show as ARBORIST supporting James Yorkston. A solo tour followed before impressive performances led to notable support slots alongside Low, Cat Power, Echo and The Bunnymen and Guy Garvey. Arborist came to the attention of critics with their debut single, the Americana tinged, “Twisted Arrow”, that features an astonishing duet with Kim Deal of The Breeders. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Dreaming In Another Anguage
2. Matisse
3. Black Halo
4. O Margaret
5. One Morning, Mid-November
6. The Weeping Rot
7. Unkind
8. Dewdrop, Cherry Oak
9. Alabaster Skin

Arbouretum’s mystic folk-rock uses English folk, country blues, Americana and 70s psychedelia as touchpoints in their singular and distinctive sound and they’ve perfected the craft of storytelling, using a delicate interplay of melodies and prosaic lyrics.‘Let It All’ In is their most accomplished and evocative album yet. Guitarist and vocalist Dave Heumann’s melodies and solos remain a central focus, bolstered by the hypnotic rhythms of bassist Corey Allender and drummer Brian Carey, enhanced by Matthew Pierce’s substantial yet understated keyboard figures. Each song a vivid scene or tale; Heumann’s deep sense of spirituality and command of storytelling through myth and metaphor transports the listener to another world and time. Features guest performances from Mike Kuhl, Hans Chew and Dave

TRACK LISTING

1. How Deep It Goes
2. A Prism In Reverse
3. No Sanctuary Blues
4. Night Theme
5. Headwaters II
6. Buffeted By Wind
7. Let It All In
8. High Water Song

“Here’s my voice and all my guts: feel free to judge it. It’s like a bullfight: you’re watching emotional violence for pleasure. So this is a character who, almost as a mockery of the transaction, goes uncomfortably deep, into selfmutilation. ‘You want gore? Here’s gore.’” - Arca on ‘Arca’

Arca releases his third full length album. The selftitled record will be the Venezuela-born, London based artist’s first on XL Recordings and follows the release of his two previous albums: 2014’s ‘Xen’ and 2015’s ‘Mutant’

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Riding the spooky post-dubstep wave, Arca smashed it out of the park with 'Mutant' and this is unbelievably, one step further. Futuristic swarms of crackling percussion, constantly evolving synthwork and haunting omnipresent vocals. Deeply rewarding downbeat synth anthems.

TRACK LISTING

Piel
Anoche
Saunter
Urchin
Reverie
Castration
Sin Rumbo
Coraje
Whip
Desafío
Fugaces
Miel
Child

Numbered, limited edition recreation of a 7" released in advance of the band's debut album "Funeral."

This is the original Arcade Fire demo EP recorded in August 2003 in a barn in Maine, and featuring an earlier line up of the band (Win Butler, Régine Chassagne, Dane Mills, Brendan Reed and Myles Broscoe). It was produced by Richard Reed Parry, Win and Régine, and was originally only available at shows.

The EP features an early version of fan favourite “No Cars Go”.

Our Review from 2004 - Get ready for a splendid new band, everybody. Their sound is a mixture of Canadian folk, new-wave disco beats, quirky David Byrne-ish vocals, Pixies' agression, Mercury Rev's sense of magic, big band drama, organic chamber pop and just an all round multi-instrumental sense of anything's possible, that you'll be setting up your own toy orchestra and playing along. Though talented players, and loads play on this record, it's this sense of fun and cookiness that pervades; this lot are clever but well beyond cool. It's music ripe with the joys of music-making. And the songs are really catchy. that always helps. Maybe chuck a bit of Sugarcubes and a bit of New Order even, into their melting pot, stir in with crashing operatic crescendos and tiny, sweet lullabies and you'll be a little bit nearer to the sound of this band. They're making a splash Stateside. It's obvious why.

Produced by Nigel Godrich, Win & Régine, and recorded in multiple locales including New Orleans, El Paso and Mount Desert Island, WE paradoxically distills “the longest we’ve ever spent writing, uninterrupted, probably ever" (per the band’s Win Butler) into a concise 40 minute epic – one as much about the forces that threaten to pull us away from the people we love, as it is inspired by the urgent need to overcome them. WE’s cathartic journey follows a definable arc from darkness into light over the course of seven songs divided into two distinct sides -- Side “I” channeling the fear and loneliness of isolation, and Side “WE” expressing the joy and power of reconnection.

On the album’s cover, a photograph of a human eye by the artist JR evokes Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy. This stunning image -- embellished by the distinctive airbrush color tinting of Terry Pastor (utilizing the same physical technique he employed on David Bowie’s iconic Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust covers) – is the visual expression of WE.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: 'We' takes Arcade Fire back to their orchestral roots, eschewing the mind-bogglingly diverse range of sounds on 2017's 'Everything Now'. Pieces here sound like classic Arcade Fire but imbued with the real-world concept of tension and release, manifested as a taut musical energy offset by a jubilant orchestral bliss. Massive and euphoric and quintessentially Arcade Fire.

TRACK LISTING

“I”
1. Age Of Anxiety I
2. Age Of Anxiety II (Rabbit Hole)
3. End Of The Empire I-IV
“WE”
1. The Lightning I, II
2. Unconditional I (Lookout Kid)
3. Unconditional II (Race And Religion)
4. WE

Produced and recorded by Arca, KiCk i defines a new era of multiplex harmony for the Venezuelan artist, singer, DJ, performer and experimental music composer. With appearances from Björk, Rosalía, Shygirl and SOPHIE, this is the first time Arca has invited collaborators into her world, previously having lent her sound to some of the decades most avant-pop artists. With the release of “Nonbinary” kicking off the new era, today Arca shares the first single from KiCk i called “Time”:

“Time” originally premiered in September 2019 at Arca’s Mutant;Faith, a four-part experimental performance cycle at the new NYC performing arts space The Shed. The performance “stood to prove why Arca’s work is beyond innovative, and why her vision for the future of pop is so thrilling,” declared them., with Pitchfork revering Arca’s ability to “continue to create a singular world.” Captured on the fourth-day of Mutant;Faith performance cycle, the video for “Time” was conceptualized by Arca, Carlos Sáez and MANSON, who directed the video in front of a live audience at The Shed and on the streets of NYC.

KiCk i is a celebration not only of the joy Arca’s been able to find in her life, but the sometimes arduous journey it took for her to find it. Her struggles to reconcile her Venezuelan heritage and her trans Latinx identity emerge as reggaetón and pop en Español. But KiCk i isn’t just a pop record, or an experimental record, or even simply a mix between the two, but rather all of them at once- and so much more. Depending on where you drop the needle you’ll find bubblegum, harsh noise, electronic psychedelia, balladry, bangers, laughter, tears, passion, and expressions of faith - sounds and ideas that don’t simply blend together, but coexist simultaneously in quantum superposition made possible inside the sonic worlds Arca builds in her music.

“I don't want to be tied to one genre,” Arca explains. “I don't want to be labeled as one thing.” Where she is now, being nonbinary doesn’t end with her gender identity. It’s become a mindset where no one thing has to be just one thing, where multiple meanings, multiple realities can coexist in superposed balance. In this space between states, where one thing is the other, Arca has discovered a vast field of untapped creative power. KiCk i is the sound of her plugging in.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Venezuelan sound artist and synthpop wunderkind Arca brings all of the heat from their hugely popular last two releases into the first of a quadrilogy of releases. If this is anything to go by, it's sure to take the synth world by storm. Vapourwave meets glitch via everything else.

TRACK LISTING

1. Nonbinary
2. Time
3. Mequetrefe
4. Riquiqui
5. Calor
6. Afterwards Ft. Björk
7. Watch Ft. Shygirl
8. KLK Ft. Rosalía
9. Rip The Slit
10. La Chíqui Ft. SOPHIE
11. Machote
12. No Queda Nada

Produced and recorded by Arca, The complete Kick Cycle; KICK ii – kiCK iiiii. The Grammy nominated Venezuelan star, showcasing the multiplicity of her artistry. The distinct collections span moods and modes, featuring her visionary avant-garde cyber-reggaeton production, operatic range, unexpected collaborations (including Sia, Shirley Manson, Oliver Coates, Planningtorock, Ryuichi Sakamoto), and a boundary-smashing approach to genre and identity.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Doña
Prada
Rakata
Tiro
Luna Llena
Lethargy

Side B
Araña
Femme
Muñecas
Confianza
Born Yesterday Ft. Sia
Andro

Produced and recorded by Arca, The complete Kick Cycle; KICK ii – kiCK iiiii. The Grammy nominated Venezuelan star, showcasing the multiplicity of her artistry. The distinct collections span moods and modes, featuring her visionary avant-garde cyber-reggaeton production, operatic range, unexpected collaborations (including Sia, Shirley Manson, Oliver Coates, Planningtorock, Ryuichi Sakamoto), and a boundary-smashing approach to genre and identity.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Bruja
Incendio
Morbo
Fiera
Skullqueen
Electra Rex
Ripples

Side B
Rubberneck
Señorita
My 2
Intimate Flesh
Joya

Produced and recorded by Arca, The complete Kick Cycle; KICK ii – kiCK iiiii. The Grammy nominated Venezuelan star, showcasing the multiplicity of her artistry. The distinct collections span moods and modes, featuring her visionary avant-garde cyber-reggaeton production, operatic range, unexpected collaborations (including Sia, Shirley Manson, Oliver Coates, Planningtorock, Ryuichi Sakamoto), and a boundary-smashing approach to genre and identity.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Whoresong
Esuna Ft. Oliver Coates
Xenomorphgirl
Queer Ft. Planningtorock
Witch Ft No Bra
Hija

Side B
Boquifloja
Alien Inside Ft. Shirley Manson
Altar
Lost Woman Found
Paw

Produced and recorded by Arca, The complete Kick Cycle; KICK ii – kiCK iiiii. The Grammy nominated Venezuelan star, showcasing the multiplicity of her artistry. The distinct collections span moods and modes, featuring her visionary avant-garde cyber-reggaeton production, operatic range, unexpected collaborations (including Sia, Shirley Manson, Oliver Coates, Planningtorock, Ryuichi Sakamoto), and a boundary-smashing approach to genre and identity.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
In The Face
Pu
Chiquito
Estrogen
Ether
Amrep
Sanctuary Ft. Ryuichi Sakamoto

Side B
Tierno
Músculos
La Infinita
Fireprayer
Crown

Within A Western Circular lies an exciting and varied crew of guest artists including MF DOOM, Samuel T. Herring (Future Islands), Sudan Archives, and Laura Groves, all contributing vocals to his rich, dexterous compositions. These collaborations are the by-product of several years of writing and producing. Recently, he’s appeared extensively on the debut albums by Sudan Archives (writing the lead single, 'Confessions', no less) and Nilüfer Yanya (contributing seven songs), alongside work with Celeste, and another writer and production credit on Jessie Ware’s Devotion.

An album that’s been in the works for the past half-decade, A Western Circular is a bold, reflective piece that directly relates to Archer’s personal experiences of life and death, centered on one particular week where they breathed with equal intensity. The record’s themes of greed, love and loyalty all relate back to that specific time. Inspired by author John Fante, A Western Circular is a spiritual voyage through life’s pushing and pulling: finding beauty in the rough, sadness in the bright. Ostensibly, it’s a poignant reflection on the duality of the human condition.

On the record, Archer has uncovered new depths and forged an invigorating singular sound - supple and multi-layered, honouring his acoustic heritage and influence, while building a sonic universe that commands contemporary references to everything from Frank Zappa to Yasuaki Shimuzu, Robert Wyatt to Arthur Russell.

TRACK LISTING

Western Circular
Scarecrow
Last Sniff With MF DOOM
Killing Crab
The Boon With Samuel T. Herring
Cheater With Sudan Archives
Cures & Wounds
Decades With Samuel T. Herring & Laura Groves
Ugly Feelings (Again)
Worse Off West

Originally released in 1993; refreshed here with liner notes by Robert Christgau (of Village Voice).

“No single trend in 1990s indie rock can be traced back to Archers of Loaf. They weren't quite "lo-fi," they weren't quite "slackers," their guitars weren't quite "noisy" and their drums weren't quite "mathy." Eric Bachmann's vocals were gritty and visceral, but his lyrics were oblique and cerebral. Archers of Loaf thrived on subtle contradictions, on purposeful vagaries, on tentative gestures delivered with utmost conviction.

They released increasingly adventurous records for five years, and broke up with minimal drama or fanfare. This perfectly captures the energy of the band's early days, from their slapdash first singles to the scrappy brilliance of Icky Mettle itself to the more honed recordings that followed. Released on the heels of some well-received singles and a buzzed-about performance at the CMJ Music Marathon in New York, Icky Mettle was a hotly anticipated debut. To say it starts on a strong note would be an understatement; opener "Web in Front" is quite simply among the finest indie rock songs ever written. That a song whose lyrics are all but impossible to parse literally comes off as so immediate and relatable speaks both to Bachmann's skill with words-as-sounds, and to his bandmates' ability to put force and nuance behind his voice. Much of the credit here belongs to guitarist Eric Johnson, whose melodic and fluttery guitar parts seem to hammer the very emotional notes that Bachmann's words intentionally skirt. The second disc compiles the excellent Vs. the Greatest of All Time EP and the early singles that were previously included on the Speed of Cattle compilation. The five songs from Vs. the Greatest of All Time hint at the more spacious and muscular sound that the band would cultivate on their sophomore LP, Vee Vee, while early 7" versions of "Wrong" and "Web in Front" are disjointed and flaccid previews of their album counterparts. Uncertainty has never sounded so much like a rallying cry” 

TRACK LISTING

LP :

1. Web In Front
2. Last Word 
3. Wrong
4. You And Me
5. Might 
6. Hate Paste
7. Fat 
8. Plumb Line
9. Learo, You're A Hole 
10. Sick File 
11. Toast
12. Backwash
13. Slow Worm

As sculpted shards of guitar tumbling, tolling, squalling shower the jittery bounce of a piano on opener “Human,” it’s obvious that Reason in Decline, Archers of Loaf’s first album in 24 years, will be more than a nostalgic, low-impact reboot. When they emerged from North Carolina’s ’90s indie-punk incubator, the Archers’ hurtling, sly, gloriously dissonant roar was a mythologized touchstone of slacker-era refusal. But this, the distilled shudder of “Human” (as in “It’s hard to be human / When only death can set you free”), is an entirely different noise. In fact, it’s a startling revelation.

In short, this is not your father’s Archers of Loaf, even if you’re a father now who was a fan then. (If that’s the case, congrats on surviving the Plague and getting to hear this fearlessly poignant record, you alt-geezer!) Otherwise, thank your youthful fucking lucky stars, kids! Enjoy Reason in Decline with fresh ears and do as the Archers have been doing: Stay humble, stay informed, express yourself creatively, and try not to lose your goddamned mind while the polar ice caps melt. Peace.

TRACK LISTING

01 Human
02 Saturation And Light
03 Screaming Undercover
04 Mama Was A War Profiteer
05 Aimee
06 In The Surface Noise
07 Breaking Even
08 Misinformation Age
09 The Moment You End
10 War Is Wide Open

"The Ick" - a sense of sanity amidst the storm of information. This album by Archetype is an abstract scream for something quite fragile, a polarizing society, disruptive isolation, and the fading collective experience. Utilizing dramatic vocals, industrial trip-hop, and post-punk-leaning electronics, Archetype marks the new moniker by the ever-versatile Viennese Rotterdammer, Leonard Prochazka. Following his manifold of concept-driven, instinctive musical output, Archetype's "The Ick" follows "Strapazen und Genesung" as Geier Aus Stahl on Knekelhuis in 2022. 

TRACK LISTING

Archetype
Mental Is True
Minute After Minute
The Ick
Illusions
Trickster
I See Numbers
Final Chapter

ARCHIE AND THE BUNKERS is Emmet on (drums/vocals) and Cullen (organ/vocals). Formed in Cleveland, Ohio, in 2013, the teenaged brothers began recording music in their basement, self-producing their first two EPs with a raw garage-punk sound that draws heavily from their diverse musical influences, ranging from jazz organ greats like Jimmy Smith, and Richard ‘Groove’ Holmes, to punk icons Dead Boys (they opened for original member Cheetah Chrome earlier this year), The Stooges, The Screamers, The Damned, and more. On stage, these home-schooled siblings attack their songs with a frenetic energy that whips the audience into a frenzy.

The unique growl of sixteen-year-old Cullen’s whirring, overdriven organ and the driving beat of Emmett’s four-piece drum kit leave gig-goers in shock at the sonic assault levied by a group made up of just two boys. As a local reviewer wrote, the boys “sometimes draw initial attention from a crowd because of their tender years. But their ages belie the talent and powerhouse show they put on every time they hit a stage.” The twelve songs on this, their debut album, were recorded at the famed Ghetto Recorders in Detroit, with near legendary producer/engineer Jim Diamond capturing that unique Archie sound that’s been dubbed ‘Hi-Fi Organ Punk.’ Fourteen-year-old Emmett, however, prefers to describe their sound as, ‘rock’n’roll that’s been peeled back to its raw foundation’. Having played a number of high profile gigs in recent months, including support to The Sonics at the Beachland Ballroom in their home town this summer, these kids are scorching hot and ready to break out, not just out of Cleveland, but internationally.

‘The novelty of their ages drops away the minute they begin to play,’ says Matt Fields, manager at the Beachland. ‘These guys are frickin’ stars, man. They are total pros. The first time I saw them my jaw hit the floor. Every time they play, within two songs everybody at the bar has left their seats to go stand in front of the stage to watch and listen to them. I haven't felt this strongly about a new band in a long time. They have no pretention, no inhibition. They are just having so much fun with the music. They are mind-blowing players. And such nice kids.’ 

TRACK LISTING

Sally Lou
Lady In RKO
I’m Not Really
Sure What I’m
Gonna Do
Knifuli Knifula
You’re The Victim
Different Track
Miss Taylor
Austria
I Wish I Could
Trade Winds
The Last Stooge
Joanie

Brooklyn multi-instrumentalist trio Archie Pelago step up to inaugurate the Styles Upon Styles label proper with the "Hall of Human Origins" EP / mini LP. Previously, SUS have been issuing music under the excellent conceptual BASH series, and their decision to branch out from that is justified with this excellent release from Archie Pelago. Brought to wider attention on last year's self titled debut on Mr Saturday Night, the trio of Hirshi, Kroba and Cosmo D have garnered subsequent praise for their output on Well Rounded and their own Archie Pelago Music imprint. For the uninitiated Archie Pelago focus on an organic and texturally intricate approach to electronic music which they themselves describe as "keep it human, give it soul" and the "Hall of Human Origins EP" maintains the standards of their previous output. Numerous tempos are covered across the five tracks with "Chronomancer" and "Wrong Apartment (Worms)" stand outs.

Melbourne's now globally dispersed musical chameleons Architecture in Helsinki release the exhilarating album, "Places Like This". It could not be more removed from their previous album, "In Case We Die". Fizzing with electrical currents, channelling calypso rhythms and tropicalia flavours with lashings of percussion a-go-go, the new songs pack a kaleidoscopic punch that is little short of breathtaking. Pop effervescence hasn't sounded this fresh in ages. Laced with steel drums, single "Heart It Races" builds through infectious pitter-pat crashing beats, layered 'na na na na na' vocals to hands-in-the-air dancefloor breakdowns and swooshy, glittering rushes. The rest of the album follows in the same mad yet wonderful vein throughout. Recorded by Brooklyn based engineer Chris Coady (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, !!!, TV On The Radio) "Places Like This" was written by Architecture In Helsinki's songwriter Cameron Bird after he'd relocated to a Puerto Rican neighbourhood in Williamsburg last summer. It's the sound of a New York melting down, with South American poly-rhythms and street beats clamouring for attention.

Speaking about the self-produced new album, founding member Darius Keeler said “I think just knowing that we were working on our tenth album made this one feel like a landmark record. Our history as a collective has been a mad journey, we’ve trodden such a strange path to arrive at where we are today, and I think in a way that informed the new record and emboldened us to make what is probably the Archive album that I’m most proud of to date”.

Talking about the genesis of the album title Keeler says; “People are going to read in to who or what The False Foundation is I guess, but they’re going to have to draw their own conclusions. I have my own take on it, let’s just say there are a lot of potential candidates out there in the world today.”

TRACK LISTING

1 Blue Faces
2 Driving In Nails
3 The Pull Out
4 The False Foundation
5 Bright Lights
6 A Thousand Thoughts
7 Splinters
8 Sell Out
9 Stay Tribal
10 The Weight Of The World

In 2015, Dan Auerbach entered the studio with Leon Michels, Nick Movshon, Homer Steinweiss, and the late Richard Swift (who passed away in 2018) to record The Arcs' debut album Yours, Dreamily in a handful of freewheeling sessions over two weeks. Now, more than 7 years later, those same sessions became the bedrock on which the surviving members fleshed out the anticipated follow-up album, Electrophonic Chronic, a collection of psychedelic rock, gritty funk, and heady, soulful grooves.

The Arcs was formed when Dan Auerbach enlisted Leon Michels, a multi-instrumentalist who was part of the studio crew on Auerbach’s GRAMMY-nominated production projects for Dr. John and Lana Del Rey – "I just wanted to do my thing and get extra weird." Auerbach headed into the studio with Michels, Movshon, Steinweiss, and Swift, and made their debut Yours, Dreamily, which was recorded in a handful of freewheeling sessions lasting less than two weeks and released in September 2015.

Those same sessions produced a second unfinished album worth of tracks, the bedrock on which the surviving members fleshed out the highly anticipated follow-up album, Electrophonic Chronic.

"Like a cigarette flicked on a stream of gasoline. The snarling melodies, warbling horn lines and in-the-pocket beats transport listeners into the album's pulpy world of '70s exploitation films and gritty biker-gang movies." - NPR

Produced by Dan Auerbach and Leon Michels, and mixed by the legendary Tchad Blake. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Keep On Dreamin’
2. Eyez
3. Heaven Is A Place
4. Califone Interlude
5. River
6. Sunshine
7. A Man Will Do No Wrong
8. Behind The Eyes
9. Backstage Mess Interlude
10. Love Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
11. Only One For Me 

‘AM’ was produced by James Ford and co-produced by Ross Orton at Sage & Sound Recording, LA and Rancho De La Luna, Joshua Tree. The album was engineered by Ian Shea and mixed by Tchad Blake.

Josh Homme, Pete Thomas and Bill Ryder-Jones all make guest appearances on ‘AM’ – as do the words of John Cooper Clarke, on the track I Wanna Be Yours.

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: The perfect mix of pop and rock. Their best since their debut.

TRACK LISTING

1. Do I Wanna Know?
2. R U Mine?
3. One For The Road
4. Arabella
5. I Want It All
6. No. 1 Party Anthem
7. Mad Sounds
8. Fireside
9. Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?
10. Snap Out Of It
11. Knee Socks
12. I Wanna Be Yours